Welcome Aboard
by tieukhanh
Summary: Ace fell in love with the great blue sea since he was a kid. He hungered for adventures, but he didn't want to follow in his parents' footsteps, a man wanted by the world and a woman chained by the law. At the age of eighteen, Ace became the most reliable delivery man in the Four Blues and his crew were ready for some escapades in the New World.
1. Port Town: 1

The whole world was shocked on that morning.

It was summer when the Pirate King announced his crew was officially dismissed. Gol D. Roger was last seen in South Blue before disappearing forever from sight. His crew scattered, some gave up their piracy life while the rest continued to conquer the world. Everyone tried to explain why the world's most wanted man came up with such decision: he was imprisoned secretly in Impel Down, Dark King Rayleigh assassinated him to dethrone his position, he took One Piece for himself and abandoned his crew, he was dead and the crew wanted to keep it a secret,…

A few, very few, dared to say he found a woman, and desired to settle down.

Marco remembered his Pops spent that day looking distantly at the sea with so many emotions in his eyes. Roger had been Whitebeard's biggest rival, but somehow they also came quite close to the definition of friends. Frenemies, Rouge once said.

Ah yes, Rouge. A firecracker she was, chasing both Roger Pirate and Whitebeard Pirate to the very edge of New World, yet still managed to sit down and chatting with both captains from dusk to dawn. In the shock of Roger's announcement, no one seemed to notice Rear Admiral "Hibiscus" Monkey D. Rouge had resigned from her position in the Marine.

.

Marco was amused, and he hadn't feel amused for quite a long time.

The young man sitting right opposite him suddenly collapsed. He was face-first in his unfinished plate while his right hand still holding a fork on mid-air. Next to him, there was a stack of bowls and plates so high it could feed five people.

The other guests started to panic, some even screamed, having no idea why such a healthy young man could drop dead mid-eating. Then someone pointed at the tattoo on Marco's chest and murmured about "a ruthless pirate commits murder in daylight". Marco liked to show off his pride but he didn't like being accused of something he didn't commit. But what could he say, it wasn't like a member from an Emperor ship would appear in this town every day.

Marco knew the young man was alive, he could sense it, just that his breath was too light and his body seemed to be paralyzed. Food poison, Marco assumed, or maybe being bitten by a venomous insect. Either way, it was bad for Marco if he just let it be, the last thing he needed in this town was attracting public attention. He was about to do some check-up when the young man suddenly woke up, grabbed the nearby maid's dress to wipe off his face and resumed his eating like nothing happened.

"Is there something wrong? Why is everyone looking at me?" The man asked after swallowing his food, grey eyes scanned around the room innocently. That was a very polite gesture to Marco, he was used to people talking and chewing at the same time.

Calling him "a man" would be an exaggeration. He was only nineteen, and those freckles on his cheeks made him look even much younger.

"You just passed out yoi. They thought you were dead because I killed you."

"Oh, that. Sorry everyone, I felt asleep."

The young man grinned sheepishly at the other guests but no one answered. Marco could tell they didn't get over their shock yet. He'd seen this condition while fighting a monstrous marine. The fact he had narcolepsy made Marco interested in him even more. Narcolepsy was supposed to be a disadvantage if you wanted to rock the sea, but Garp were ridiculously strong his opponents felt happy he had that sleeping disorder.

Said young man continued his eating and looked at Marco.

"So Marco, where are we again?"

"Sea King in the South Blue yoi. The giant toad with a chicken comb above his head."

"Ah yes. That's one. That toad also had claws and saber-teeth. He could jumped like fifteen meters above sea level and…."

Listening to the man had been interesting. Sometimes Marco would sipped his rum and made a small comment. This young man was an unexpected surprise since he got to this town.

Not an hour ago Marco was sitting alone in a corner of the restaurants when this young man asked to sit with him. He introduced himself as Portgas D. Ace, nineteen years old, a delivery man from East Blues that just got to Grand Line a few months ago. He wore a ridiculously catchy orange cowboy hat, got his shirt open-front like Marco with a dagger in a green sheath hung at his left hip. With a quick look anyone could tell Ace was a decent fighter. Ace gave a wild yet innocent impression made it hard to say no to him. There was absolute confidence in his voice. He was charming in Marco's opinion, the type of young man who could woo any barmaid even with the worst pick-up line.

At first Marco thought Ace was a clueless young man who wanted to sit with him since there was no other seat, but it turned out Ace did know who he was. He even had a proper knowledge about New World and the Four Emperors. Marco asked whether he should be scared of a notorious pirate, especially said pirate was an Emperor's first mate, and Ace simply shook his head saying not all pirates were bad people.

That was a strange statement from someone had to fight pirates daily to protect his merchandises. As the conversation went on Marco found out Ace's little brother was once saved by a pirate; therefore to Ace, there were good guys and there were bad guys in piracy just like any other occupations.

The conversation was mostly about their own adventures. They went on and on about the Sea Kings and how different it was between the Blues and Grand Line. Marco was in East Blue a few months ago, but he didn't have much time to catch up on the news. It was fun to know what was going on outside the Grand Line. Despite being so young, Ace had defeated lots of tough pirates. His team, the Spade Delivery Service, was bodyguard for many incorporations in East Blue, accompanying and leading their ships to safety. Since Ace took the pirates he defeated to the Marine for reward, he considered himself a part-time bounty hunter, but he only beat those attacked him first.

Their conversation was enjoyable. Marco had to admit he didn't expected to meet someone as interesting as Ace when he set sail to Paradise. He could have said he had a lovely time, if it wasn't because of a bird kept cooing annoyingly inside his head.

A very, very, very annoying bird he couldn't shake it off.

Not only devil fruit users gain a special power after consuming the fruit, but they can also communicate with the devil in it. Phoenix wasn't just his power, the avian was a living being in his mind. He could feel its emotion. They even talked even though what he heard was mostly chirp and caw. Sometimes the flaming bird would take over his body for a few minutes just to please its own pleasure, like nesting on the crow nest on a sunny day. It was annoying at first, although Marco knew Phoenix would never hurt him, mostly because of the constant bird jokes. Phoenix was easy to tame when Marco was young, but as he got stronger and relied more to his physical ability, the bird started to become a lazy ass, only came out when he forced it with his will power or when he was in a dangerous situation.

Since the moment Ace came to him and said hi, for only god knew why, the slothful avian began cooing excitedly, so loud Marco had to resist yelling it to shut up. For some reasons, his power was very fond of the black hair man.

Maybe because of those cute freckles.

In his inner world, Phoenix nodded in agreement.

When Marco was about to comment about the Blue-Finned Elephant Tuna, a very popular main course in South Blue, he sensed some living creature approaching the restaurant really fast. Too fast to be a normal human, more like an animal, some kind of four-leg creature. Ace seemed to sense it too as he turned around and looked at the door.

A lynx burst in and some guests immediately yelled jumped off their seat. Its muscular limbs suggested it was a nasty hunter, and it might have an owner since it was wearing a dark-colored belt. The lynx scanned the room attentively, nearly choked a lot of people, until it spotted their seats and run toward them. Or more precisely, towards a grinning Ace.

"Hey there Kotatsu. What are you doing here? Miss me?"

It came to Ace and meowed as if it wasn't a carnivorous feline but was just a harmless house cat. Ace rubbed it chin gently and the lynx purred in delight.

A young man came in right after. He had spiky long light blue hair and wore a mask over his eyes. He looked relieved at the sight of Ace, but soon his expression turned worried when he noticed Marco, probably recognized the tattoo on his chest. Still, Blue Hair approached them.

"There you are, Ace."

"What's wrong Deuce? Something happened?"

Marco saw Blue Hair, Deuce, clenched his hand a bit before answering. The young man seemed to tense by Marco's presence. He must be from Ace's crew. His physical appearance suggested he was also a fighter, but it was easy to tell Ace was stronger. The black hair man didn't state it directly, but Marco guessed he was the leader of Spade Delivery Service.

"Not really, but we're short-handed. It seems like the spoiled idiot had taken a few men somewhere and the old man want us to help with the unloading."

Ace rolled his eyes. "Please don't tell me that idiot want to provoke someone again. And loading isn't in our contract."

"The old man promised to pay us more. And if we don't finish all the loading this afternoon, we'll delay tomorrow departure."

"-tsk." Ace looked annoyed, but he still stood up and looked apologetically a Marco. "I'm sorry, but I have to leave."

"It's okay. I didn't expect to meet such a charming and interesting guy on this island yoi." Marco chuckled, deliberately ignored the bang in his head on purpose. Phoenix cawed furiously demanding him to do something. The bird was in haste. He found it entertaining since his power had never be interested in someone this much.

Ace grinned cheerfully. His smile was so bright Marco wouldn't surprise if the young man received compliments on daily basic. "It was lovely talking to you Marco. Have a good day. Hope that we'll meet again. Maybe we'll able to continue about South Blue's dishes."

"I hope that too-" Marco replied, then suddenly everything went quiet and a wave of power rushed to his mind. _Oh no_ , he managed to think before feeling his body went numb. He felt his mouth open against his will but he couldn't do anything to stop it. "-but here's a small tip. Do not foretell in the Grand Line because we never know what the sea may deliver us."

Marco gained back the power to control his body. Phoenix singsong triumphantly and Marco just wanted to kick its butt. Damn the flaming pigeon. He wouldn't mind holding their conversation a bit longer, but making him a fool shouldn't be an option. He'd never been a flirtatious man but he certainly could come up with a better pickup line, not the one happened to be what Pops said to him when they first met.

Silence was deafening for two seconds before it was replaced by Ace's laughter.

"Oh my, I didn't expect that." Ace held his stomach, tears streaming down his face. "My mother said the same thing when I set sail too." The young man wiped a joyful tear off his eye. "If that's the case, let hope we are on the same side when we meet again."

The blue hair man looked at them warily but he didn't say anything. He followed Ace outside along with the lynx.

"He… didn't pay." – murmured the restaurant's owner.

.

"One more time and I'm not going to any tropical island in the next three years".

"…" Phoenix rejected, but Marco could feel a bit satisfaction in its tone. Of course the flaming bird wasn't sorry for taking over his body at all. Its attachment to the young man was interesting at first, but Marco wasn't sure whether he wanted to see his body moving on Phoenix's will again. That was the first time Phoenix used his body to interact with someone. Even it only lasted for a few seconds, the feeling of being out of control of his body actually terrified him. Nesting under the sun was comfortable, but talking to a stranger could be dangerous.

"You want me to raise to six months?"

"…" Phoenix cawed in defeat, knowing too well not to bargain when Marco was angry.

"Why are you so fond of Ace? Is this a thing with devil fruit?"

"…"

"Phoenix?"

"…"

Marco mentally sighed. Phoenix's silence mean that really is a devil thing and he had to accept what the hell happened between the bird and the young man, either he like it or not.

"I won't push, but let me know if you want to do this again. You know I don't like being the passive side."

Phoenix nodded and Marco continued to walk to a pottery shop while holding a giant stuffed otter.

The First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirate loved his family more than anything in this world, but with a family with more than one-thousand members, being the second-in-command came with a lot of responsibilities. Sometimes things get overwhelmed and Marco was desperate for a short break. Pops easily saw through him, the old man always did. He ordered Marco to get him the finest drink in Paradise. It was a stupid excuse to free him from his work. Even though he appreciated it, he refused to leave his family for so long or let his father be involved with any kind of alcohol. Yet his brothers were too eager kicking him out of the ship and enthusiastically demanded for what they also wanted from Paradise.

It was worrisome and delighted at the same time.

Since moving from one side of Grand Line Wall to the other took a lot effort, not many ships willing to dive deep down to Fishman Island on a daily basis, most merchandises in New World were self-sufficient. There were still companies shipping here and there yet Paradise's products were quite rare. Marco had come to Paradise with an extremely long shopping list. He had spent two days just to draw the most efficient route to buy all of the items in the shortest time. So far he had finished half of the list. As the current progress, he would got to New World in the next four months.

He was on this island to collect the items that Jozu and some other brothers had requested secretly the night before he left, deep red blush wide spread on the paramecia's face.

It turned out Jozu had a collection of mini pottery animals and he wanted pottery unicorns from a specific shop on a specific island in the Paradise. Walking with a bag full of pottery unicorns wasn't the strangest thing Marco had ever done so far. Walking with said bag to a doll shop, a stationery shop, a witchcraft shop with a giant stuffed otter might was.

In comparison with Jozu's, the other requests weren't more normal. Marco didn't expect to learn that much about his brothers' guilty pleasures before he left. He'd thought after two decades of sailing the New World couldn't surprise him anymore.

Except for Izou's. Izou pointed straight to his face demanding a brother-in-law.

.

Marco got back to his ship in the afternoon with five bags of cute decorative items in his hands, and what he saw made anger flood his veins.

His ship was attacked. The ship body was covered in paint and the mainsail was torn apart by sword.

Marco gritted his teeth. He hopped on board and searched around. He couldn't sense anyone with Haki, which mean the attacker had left. The engine were fine, but the wheel was ripped off and tossed away and the door of the storage room was smashed. Some of the items was gone. His bedroom was tampered and his maps scattered on the floor.

Yet that wasn't the worst of it.

Marco looked up and had the urge to dip his talons into someone's chest and rip their heart out.

The flag was burned.

Some goddamn fucker just burned his ship's flag. His family's insignia. _His pride_.

Marco regretted being over-confident that no one would dare to attack a Whitebeard's ship. The world knew attack a Whitebeard member mean become enemy with the whole crew. Since he brought nothing important on the journey - only the items his brothers requested could be considered valuable, but most of them weren't expensive at all - he didn't hesitate leave them all behind. Marine certainly don't want to provoke an Emperor and Emperors' crew don't attack each other for no reason. Ignorant rookies who wanted to make their name would leave a distinguish mark, but Marco found nothing, no drawing, no writing, no jolly roger and no symbol.

This was not a war-trigger, it was simply sabotaging and nothing more. Marco wasn't sure the attacker whether aiming at him and the Whitebeard pirate or just playing around.

Either the way, it was a pure act of stupidity.

.

It didn't take Marco long to find out the identity of the attackers, in fact, he knew their names after just fifteen minutes of asking around. He only said his ship was attacked and a local woman guessed he was a pirate immediately. An old fisherman looked at him up and down and stated he shouldn't go after the attackers otherwise he would receive massive failure like other pirates crew.

The Gonzalez was a local trading company specialized in construction equipment and their young master had a habit of provoking pirate crews stopping at this port. He broke pirate ships, waiting for pirates show up at his door and beat the shit out of them. Since only pirate ships were attacked, the local just let it be, as long as didn't affect their lives. Gonzalez had some pretty strong fighters up his sleeve because no pirate had their vengeance yet.

"All came back covered in blood and bruises", said a fisherman.

Asking for his whereabouts was even easier. Just before Marco reached the Gonzalez mansion, he eavesdropped some guys, whom he guessed were servants based on their clothes, walking from the opposite direction saying the young master had left the island and would come to the company's warehouse at night. Marco preferred going rampage with the guy's presence, so he spent the afternoon cleaning his room and redrawing a few maps.

When First Division Commander finished, he noticed the sun was diving into the sea. A sun-ray speared through the window and created a circular shape of light on his map. For an instant his mind wandered to the day his father introduced the Moby Dick. The day still fresh in his mind, the moustache man spread his arms wide and laughed triumphantly under the glorious twilight. He sat on Pops' shoulder, dreaming about the place he would called home.

Marco wondered what his family was doing, it must be dinner now, with Thatch running around organize the dining room. Although the chief was a happy-go-lucky guy, he took pride in his job of making sure everyone was healthy. Everyone would cheered and laughed joyfully. There was always a story to tell on Moby Dick, maybe about a loved one, a long gone memory, a sin, a regret, or maybe just some prank Haruta pulled earlier. Pops would sit at his corner laughing all the times. Maro hoped the nurses were able to keep him away from alcohol.

He sat on the railing, puffed out cigar smoke and watched them fading slowly toward the horizon through his half-lidded eyes. He'd been sailing for decades, but he still admired the hue sky when the last sun-ray kissed the ocean goodbye.

When the light drained away, leaving nothing more than the gloomy darkness, his Phoenix cooed eagerly for the incoming hunt.

.

He stood in front of the Gonzalez's warehouse. Not to his surprise, the guards stopped him. There were three of them. A muscular man with a white cowboy hat, a short man wearing grey turban and a large man with his arm replaced by a three barrel gun. They drew their weapons out as they saw Marco approached. Cowboy Hat tensed a bit when he recognized Marco's tattoo, but he held his stand firm alongside his comrades.

"I'm here for the young master of the Gonzalez yoi. I believe he's here and I'd like to talk to him." Marco said in a flat tone. He didn't mind the guards, but it would be more convenient if he didn't have to deal with them.

"Young master had ordered to not let anyone bother him tonight. So mister, you may come again tomorrow." Cowboy Hat said politely.

"I believe he's holding something belong to me and I want to take them back. You see, I found out my ship was attacked this afternoon and some items on board went missing yoi."

The three guards looked like they just tasted something disgusting. Marco took it as they understood what happened to him. Cowboy Hat nodded hesitantly and the other two followed like they finally reached an agreement. Looking at their eyes, Marco knew the answer before Cowboy Hat rose his voice.

"We're sorry for your… loss. But we cannot let you pass this gate no matter what."

"No matter what?" Marco repeated sarcastically. His lips twisted up and he put some strength to his legs. "In that case, I'm sorry too, yoi."

Within the next second, he kicked Grey Turban and the guy slammed to the concrete wall.

"Pinnacle!" Cowboy Hat hollered.

Barrel Gun lifted his arm and aimed at Marco, but before he could fire, Marco approached from below and kicked his barrel up. The big guy lost his balance and stumbled backward. Another kick right to his chest sent him straight to the ground. Cowboy Hat charged at Marco with his sabers upheld. The Zoan dodged easily and literally stepped on the guy's face. Cowboy yelped in pain before Marco kicked him hard to his chest.

Marco liked to fight with his physical ability, it stretched his muscles and made him feel energetic. New World had taught him not to rely on his power too much. He wouldn't use Phoenix if it wasn't necessary (goddamn this habit of him had turned Phoenix into a sloth), although it was fun seeing the hopelessness in his opponents' eyes when they realized they couldn't hurt him.

As he was about to strike Barrel again, he suddenly heard gunshot. Firework bloomed brightly in the night sky. Grey Turban was back on his feet holding a small gun. He turned at the sound of running feet on the rooftop.

"Chivalry, yoi?"

Marco smirked as he saw a bullet coming and leaned his head to avoid it, then he duck another one and another one. The sniper kept him busy so that his comrades could attack him in close-range. Barrel was back in the field. His steps wasn't solid, but they was fire in his eyes as he held his barrel firmly. Cowboy Hat and Grey Turban tried to tackle him from both sides. They all aimed for important part that wouldn't kill him but would surely knock him down.

Well trained together and very good durability, Marco applauded. They would give some Paradise pirates a hard time, but they were nowhere near the level of New World.

He dodged the rifle shots, taking advantages of the open space and kicked Barrel much harder than last time. The big guy smashed to the ground again with a disturbing noise. Grey Turban charged at him from below and he jumped then kicked the guy in the back. When he was about to kick the Cowboy Hat right to his face again, he felt a very strong existence approached. A column of fire coming straight to him from his right side. He immediately leaped on, barely avoided the destructive attack. The ground where he stood earlier was now black ashen.

Phoenix suddenly cooed in excitement and Marco immediately understood why.

He turned around to face his attacker, Portgas D. Ace, both arms covered in fire, looking straight at Marco with a sullen expression. He looked like a royal prince coming up to the battle ground all geared up for war. Fire crawled on his skin, illuminated the young man in a majestic and glorious aura.

Marco felt his power singsong to react. Realization dawned upon him why the avian attached to the young man. Phoenix had always been fond of fire, legend said the bird was born from fire after all.

"Marco the Phoenix." Ace grimaced.

"See what I mean earlier Ace?" Marco chuckled, he couldn't help finding the situation hilarious. "We don't foretell in the Grand Line."

The blue hair young man, Deuce if he was correct, was right behind Ace. He was shocked noticing Marco and immediately drew out his weapon.

Ace didn't answer, instead he looked around with his eyebrow arched. His eyes went dark when he saw Barrel lying unconscious. He took one step forward and raised his arms.

"Deuce, go check Aggie, and none of you is allowed to interfere. I'll take it from here."

"Ace, what the fuck?!" Deuce protested. "What do you mean we're not allowed to-"

Before the blue hair man could finish his sentence, Ace clapped his hands. A circle of fire rose, trapping him and Marco inside.


	2. Port Town: 2

"It's you and me now. What do you want, Marco the Phoenix?" Ace crossed his arms over his chest, not hiding his irritation.

Suddenly Phoenix's attitude toward the young man made sense. The bird loved heat with a passion, no wonder it would be enchanted by someone who literally made of fire. Phoenix flapped its wings and cooed excitingly. Marco had to curl his fist to hide the little blazing blue sparks on his fingers. Personally, he didn't want to duel someone he'd had a lovely chat with, yet he didn't mind knock out anyone standing on his way.

"So you work for the Gonzalez yoi?" Though it was easy to connect the dots, Marco wanted a confirmation.

"Yes, and we'll protect them and their merchandises at all cost." Ace replied, a hidden message in his tone claiming he'd do anything to accomplish his job.

"I have a bone to pick with the Gonzalez. May I talk to the young master?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you have to leave."

"Or what yoi?" Marco raised an eyebrow, making the expression he usually reserved for his enemies. Ace seemed to be taken a little aback, but the shock disappeared so fast Marco almost missed it. The young man looked at Marco in the eyes and expressed no sign of stepping down.

"Or you'll have to walk over my dead body."

"That's too bad." Marco sarcastically smirked. "I remember you hoped we would be on the same side if we met again yoi."

Fire circling around Ace's body as he held a defensive stand. His eyes reflected the roaring blaze, adorning the stormy orbs with translucent vermillion shade like a black sapphire.

"And you said we cannot foretell in the Grand Line."

Power rushed in Marco's vein. That caught him off guard since he thought Phoenix didn't want to hurt the young man. It took him a second to realize his power hungered for showing off. The avian didn't want to look weak in front of any kind of fire.

Well he wanted to show off a bit too.

.

Ace was much stronger than his comrades. Although he claimed to have only been to Grand Line for a few months, Marco knew his opponent was totally New World level. The young man had an impressive combat skills and a creative mind that combined strategically his attacks. With the support from his power, he manage to fight hand-to-hand and long-range at the same time. Ace set his fist ablaze and launched a fire column straight to Marco. Marco dodged and approached Ace from below, yet the young man caught up with his speed and block his kick just in time. They fought with fist and kick for a while until Ace's hand glowed. Marco heard burning noise all around him. He jumped to avoid the flaming fireballs and did some acrobat to elude the fire bullets coming from Ace's fingers. In a blink of an eyes the fireballs turned to flaming spears and charged at him at once.

Marco stomped his foot and appeared behind his opponent. He was about to kick Ace in the back when the young man turned his head. His eyes widened and his facial muscles tensed. Marco mentally praised Ace for such quick reflex, yet he knew the young man didn't have enough time to block or dodge his kick. He covered his leg with Haki and charged with full force. Ace's eyes flickered, and the next second Marco found his kick hit the thin air. Instead of stopping Marco's kick, Ace created a hole on his body and successfully nullify the attack. He shortened their distance and inferno roared from his fist one more time.

Marco narrowed his eyes. Ace didn't just shift to his element, he structured his body to neutralize Marco's attack like he knew using the intangible form alone would be useless.

Last time Marco checked, a logia only did that when they knew the existence of Haki.

Marco held his stand and stood still when the fire punch was struck directly to his ribs. Ace's eyes were open in an expression of stunned surprise like he'd expected Marco to avoid it. He jumped back and coated himself with fire before giving Marco a suspicious look. Phoenix had been waiting for it, it screeched and covered Marco in vibrant blue.

It's always amusing watching his blue flame rendered someone with awe. Ace seemed to forget they were enemies. He gawked and not moving an inch. Fire started dancing on his shoulder blades as if it was responding to Marco's blue.

Marco smirked and Ace snapped back to reality. His eyes bulged in disbelief and embarrassment. Marco almost burst out laughing. A moment of distraction could be the death of any fighter. Ace grumbled as he charged again.

The Commander imbued his hand with Haki, grasped Ace's wrist and moved it aside. The blazing blow missed its target. Ace startled and tried to pull back, but Marco made sure his hold was firm and Ace couldn't turn his arm to fire. The young man gritted his teeth and raised his other arm in prepare for another strike.

He leaned to avoid the attack, then threw a punch in his opponent's face without any hesitance. Ace stumbled and spitted out some blood, but Marco held his grip tighter so that the freckled man couldn't move backward.

"…!" Phoenix quacked.

Marco mentally suppressed the bird's protest. They weren't here for its awkward crush. Ace was a capable opponent. Another time and he would surely enjoy their duel. Yet right now he wanted to rip some bastard's heart out and Ace was standing on his way.

"Not bad yoi." He grinned in a playful tone. "But my reputation isn't just for show."

"…" The young man didn't replied, too busy swiping the blood on his mouth.

"Now listen closely, I hold nothing against you and your team. But as a Whitebeard pirate I'm not letting what Gonzalez did go." Marco bared his teeth. He pulled Ace closer and forced the freckled man to look at him face to face. "You have two options. Retreat your team, I get to see the guy and we'll hold no grudge. Or I beat the shit out of you then get to the guy."

Ace tsked. He dropped his head, eyes obscured by his own hair and his shoulder went slump. Marco thought it was a sight of subjugation, so he loosened his grip. "We clear yoi?"

Silence answered him, until the young man tilted his face up.

Ace was smiling. His eyes flickered somewhat like a hungry feline looking at its prey. He immediately yanked his hand back, fire whirled around his arm, generating a flaming vortex.

Move, Marco's instinct said.

A hellish blow to the chest, but Marco dodged just in time so it hit his right shoulder. The punch managed to send a nasty ripples of pain to his upper arm and flew him backward. At the same time he moved, he noticed both of Ace's arms were slowly turning to black from his hands to his elbows.

It was Marco's turn to be awestruck.

As far as he knew, Haki users were rare in Paradise, let alone the Four Blues. Ace could be a natural, but natural Haki users usually awakened their Observation or Conqueror first. It took proper training to bring out Armament and master the technique. The way Ace threw that punch looked nothing like he just awakened Haki in a second of panic.

If rookies from the Blues knew how to use Haki before they entered the Grand Line, oh hell, Marco might consider leading his division to the Blues for recruitment, otherwise his father's throne would be in serious danger.

"Well this's out of my expectation yoi." Marco said in amazement.

"Never seen a Haki user from the Blue?" Ace smirked cockily, amassing a larger amount of flame.

Marco licked his upper lip. Azure flame crept up and created pattern around his eyes. Phoenix excitingly singsonged and Marco finally understood where Phoenix's fondness toward Ace coming from. His urge to crash the warehouse was replaced suddenly by exhilaration. Ace'd managed to hurt him, that sent stimulation to every cell in his body. He didn't get hurt daily, in fact, Marco couldn't recall the last time he was injured in a fight. With Phoenix's power, sometimes he forgot the feeling of being in pain. It was thrilling being reminded of his mortality and how careful he should be if he wanted to protect his father's dream.

Phoenix'd relieved the burn, yet the lingered feeling still triggered his sense. It'd been so long since he felt excited facing an opponent, a worthy one. The young man stood high in the raging fire, splendid like he was a true phoenix. His eyes looked straight to Marco again, prideful and fearless.

Marco decided take it serious. Blue flame burst, his legs turned to talons and his arms expanded to blazing wings.

.

"To be honest I never underestimated you yoi. It could be a fatal mistake." Marco giggled and retrieved his flame. "But I never guess you're logia and a Haki user. You must know Armament Haki was hard to self-taught. Who are you really, Portgas D. Ace?"

"And why would I have to answer you?" Ace remained the cocky attitude even thought he was having difficulty breathing properly.

"You don't have to. I'm curious. It didn't hurt trying yoi." Marco gripped harder, trapping Ace between the ground and his talons. The young man hissed and tried to move his arm in vain. He couldn't control his fire probably anymore. The fire ring flared unstably and his own body kept shifting between his physical form and the elemental form. He tried to burn Marco from below, but fire's useless to the Commander when he's in his hybrid form.

For the first time of the day, Marco truly examined Ace's body. Not in a sexual way, he yelled at Phoenix. They encountered, but at that time Ace was merely a new acquaintance, now the young man was lying under his claws and completely at his mercy.

Ace's hair had the shade of midnight while his eyes was mesmerizing silvery, coming from them was youthful vigor. His face was strong and defines, eyebrows sloped in a serious expression. The smattering freckles strikingly stood out on his face, a high-light reminder of how young he was. Ace said he was nineteen. Not many people capable of making themselves known before they reached the age of twenty in the chaotic world they're living in. Nineteen, what did Marco do when he was nineteen? Ah yes, he already had some bounty over his head, and every day was an adventurous day. Marco definitely saw his younger self in Ace, rebellious and competitive with an inflated ego.

He took a look at Ace's left cheek, swollen and purple more than any color, the very result of his own action. He might or might not felt a bit guilty for damaging such a good-looking face.

"…" Phoenix sighed. Well excuse him for not contemplating his opponent's appearance.

"You'll made big a name for yourself one day yoi." Marco complimented. "But now, I believe you can see, it's useless to challenge me."

He suddenly sensed someone coming. Ace also jerked a bit, then they were interrupted by someone outside.

"Ace!" The guy, whose voice Marco recognized as Deuce, yelled. "You alright Ace?"

"What is it Deuce?" Ace answered with a hoarse shout.

"The young master just said he burned Whitebeard's flag earlier this afternoon!"

Ace's eyes went wide. The heat immediately declined. The fire ring flickered back and forth before vanishing, allowing Marco to see what was happening outside. Deuce's expression went tensed when he laid his eyes on their situation. The blue-hair man unsheathed his sword, eyeing Marco with wariness. The other members of the Spade already prepared to charge and take Ace back.

"Is that true?" Ace murmured, bringing Marco back to their conversation. There was some shaking in his voice. Fighting spirit had left in his eyes.

"I thought you knew what he did." Marco raised his eyebrow. "Covered the ship in paint, torn the sail and broke the wheel. Annoying indeed, but I came here for the burned flag and the missing items. It's my family insignia. No way I'd leave it be and do nothing yoi."

Ace bit his lip. His expression was a mixture of guilt and shame. Marco no longer felt the need to pin Ace down, so stepped aside and turned his feet to normal. The young man used his hand as a leverage to stand up, jaw clenching tight. After he stabilized his stand, he bowed his head.

"I'm sorry for the trouble we caused."

"Pardon?"

Phoenix also tilted it head in confusion.

"On behalf of my team, I'm for all the trouble we caused." Ace bowed even lower.

"You're sorry yoi? I don't need it, I want the guy. You can just-"

"What the fuck? Why did you stop? Keep on fighting you idiots!" Someone shouted angrily.

Marco turned around to find a man in his mid-thirties standing next to Deuce. His face all red and he kept yelling and pointing around. He wore a ridiculously long robe, which Marco could tell had been made from a very expensive kind of silk thank to all the lessons with Izou. He'd never been a man of fashion, but he knew no one could move conveniently in outfit like that. Said man was also the one he'd sensed earlier, he thought the man was a member of Spade Service, but he apparently was wrong.

Deuce tried to say something and ended up being yelled at. That had to trigger Ace because the young man stepped toward the guy with his fist clenching.

"Don't yell at my team!" Ace turned to the guy and scowled. "I can deal with your dumb habit, but the flag? I remember telling you not to touch any flag!"

"How dare you tell me what to do brat?!" The man, who Marco guessed was the young master of the Gonzalez, snarled. "I can do what I want. And I pay you. So you have to do what I ask!"

Ace gritted his teeth. Deuce gave him a worried glance but Ace didn't talk back. Instead, he looked at each of his companions in the eyes. From Marco's perspective, he couldn't see the look Ace was giving his friends, yet he could tell the companions were a bit nervous at first but they soon reached a silent agreement. Aggie, the big guy using barrel, was treated and could stand up, nodded to Ace first and the others followed.

"Pack it up, guys. We're leaving". Ace waved his hand. He did the finger-gun toward the sky and fired three shots. Marco took it as the retrieving signal for the Spade. He heard footsteps coming and about fifteen seconds later six guys showed up. The lynx was also there. The new arriving group looked confused, but after Deuce did some hand signal they just nodded, came to help the injured fellows and went toward the port without any further questions.

"Is this a joke? You supposed to protect me!" The guy scowled.

"From pirates and thieves and Sea Kings. Not from your stupidity! We agreed that you'd follow our instructions. See the first instruction right here?" Ace showed a paper he just received from Deuce to the guy and pointed at a line. "Don't touch the flag, any flag."

"I'll tell my father not to pay you!"

"You can tell him to keep the rest. The deal is off. You're on your own." Ace said coldly.

When he turned to Marco, his voice went soft. "I'm sorry again. You said you have some items missing, right? Let me help with the retrieval." Ace pointed to a side lane. "The warehouses only have building material, what you've been looking must be in his personal space, turn left at the end of that way."

"…Uh, thanks yoi?" Marco had no idea what was going on, or what to do with the sudden turning table. Now he was having… an advantage? Ace mean no joke when he told his team to retreat. The members of Spade Delivery Service had already left. Only Deuce stayed behind and waited for Ace.

"I mean it. No one should take a flag lightly, especially when it comes to family thing." Ace looked deadly serious. "I'll help. Name it, anything you need me to do."

Flag is more than a piece of cloth, it represents a will to the world, an ambition, a goal, a shared dream, the very proof of the bonding between those vowing under its name. Whenever Marco saw his father's mark, he saw home. He'd never stand anyone dare to stain his pride. Somehow the earnest in Ace's eyes washed away any doubt Marco had. His anger evaporated seeing the freckled man had some kind of respect toward his family insignia.

"It's fine yoi. I can deal with him and take them back on my own. It's between my crew and him."

Ace pursed his lips, but he didn't pursuit.

"Get treatment, both you and your team yoi. I believe I'd hit you all pretty bad." Marco chuckled and noticed the purple stain on the young man's lips. The color managed to churn a small undercurrent of distaste.

"If you say so. We're docking at Willow Port on the west side of this island, come to us if you need any help."

Marco reached for Ace's chin and tilt it up. The freckled man furrowed in confused but he let it be.

"That's thoughtful of you. So, as a gesture of friendliness…" Blue flame sparked on Marco's thumb as he caressed the corner of the bruising lip. "There you go, cute as always. Hope we would be on the same side if we met again yoi."

"I'm not cute! Take that back!" Ace shrieked, dusting pink stained all over his freckles. Oh hell Marco had difficulty holding his laugh because it was more adorable than he could possibly imagine. His power shared the same conclusion.

Finally, Ace nodded as a goodbye, and left with Deuce.

.

"You must be the young master of Gonzalez. I'm Marco, the First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirate." Marco'd returned to his lazy half-lidded eyes and idle tone. The fight with Ace did let off some steam even though the young man wasn't the main target of his anger. "Why did you attack my ship? I don't remember doing anything to you."

Gonzalez wasn't fazed by his name a bit. In fact, the guy looked fully confident. "You think I need those bodyguards to protect myself? They're just some brats my father hired for their reputation in East Blues. Hell, they only worked for me for less than a month."

He laughed and took a whistle out of his pocket. The pitchy noise pissed Phoenix off. From the shadow surrounded the warehouses came a large group of people, men and women, young and old, all aiming their weapons at him. Marco knew the hunger in their eyes, eyeing him like he was some kind of great treasure, pirates and marines didn't look at him like that.

They were bounty hunters.

He even realized some faces. A few had appeared on wanted posters.

"This!" Gonzalez leered, his arms spreading wide. "This is my true army! I've gathered them for years to catch the pirates who dare to confront me."

"…"

"I hate to admit but that fire brat is strong. He even defeated a 200-million pirate on the last island. He must have worn you out. You stand no chance against them, the best bounty hunters all over Grand Line."

"..."

"So scared you bit your tongue? You asking why I burned your flag? Nothing personal really. I simply enjoy crushing the pride of you filthy pirate when I beat the shit out of you, the low scums always think you're so strong."

"…"

"It's entertaining watching you aggressively come here to show off your power and despicably beg to live."

"…"

"That's what you all are. Scums. I can't stand you swaggering in front of me."

"…"

"I've heard about you, a New World pirate, an Emperor's second-in-command, and your crew act like a family. What a joke. You're just a cluster of criminals being outcast by the world."

"…"

"Let's see if the rumor about you New World is true. Can you defeat this army, Mr. Emperor's second-in-command? You'll be the perfect addition for my trophies."

The hunters encircled Marco, eyeing him like he was a tasty prey. The Commander sighed. He suddenly regretted not asking Ace to stay behind. At least chatting the young man would make the incoming fight a little bit entertaining.

"Tell me, Mr. Gonzalez, how long have you been living in the Grand Line yoi?"

Phoenix's coo sounded like the bird was laughing.

They were an army, but they didn't act like a team, simply a bunch of morons competing for his head. He didn't have to fight all of them, dodging here and there and they ended up hurting each other. There were some more challenging guys, using devil fruits and seastone weapons, but none could endure his kicks for long. He might or might not destroyed a few warehouses by sending the hunters flying to the walls. The only thing Marco considered enjoyable in this fight was how Gonzalez's expression shaded from arrogant to horror.

In the end, most of them dropped their weapon and ran away. The rest didn't do so just because they couldn't move a finger.

"That's… that's impossible!" The guy felt to the ground, voice shaking in disbelief.

"You're going need a lot more than that if you want to take me down." Marco smirked, flaming wings outstretched like a messenger from hell for some horror effect. Phoenix happily collaborated. The bird enjoyed terrifying the guy and his own sadism couldn't find a reason to reject.

Gonzalez tried to run away but Marco easily pinned him down. The guy kneeled and begged for his forgiveness, even volunteered to open his safe. Who Marco was to turn down such gratitude? Not only did he get back the missing items, he also took two suitcases full of cash. He needed to make up for the ship after all.

.

Marco had planned to take a ship from the Gonzalez to replace his, which seemed fair enough, but he didn't find any ship meet his need. They were either too big or too small, so he returned to his ship and organized the items. He planned to come to local shipyard in the morning. If he's lucky, they can fix his ship in two days and his trip won't be delayed.

Then something hit him. What if the Gonzalez fiasco happened again? He didn't mind kicking that guy's butt all day, but he preferred avoiding trouble as much as possible.

Phoenix poked at his brain and Marco turned to look at the west side of the island.

He bit his lip. He hated it when he liked Phoenix's idea.

.

Marco found the freckled man in a local market. He was on his way to Willow Port when he saw Ace choosing some apples a few stalls away. The lynx sitting next to Ace's leg was licking its claws, behind them was a sledge full-loaded with ingredients.

A brother told him if you met someone by accident three times within 24 hours, you were mean to be. Marco knew his brothers say a lot of nonsense when they were drunk, but now the word suddenly haunted him. He shook it off and approached the young man.

"Good morning yoi."

"Mar… Marco?" Ace yelped in surprise. The lynx peeked up curiously.

"Portgas D. Ace." Marco smiled.

"How was it yesterday?"

"Good, yoi. Got my items back, and the Gonzalez guy offered some cash. But I believed you knew the result already."

"Indeed I did." Ace admitted. Marco'd felt Ace and Deuce's existence lingered near the warehouse till the end of the match.

"I see you're getting provisions. You're leaving?"

"Yeah. This afternoon actually. The deal with the Gonzalez is off so there's no reason to stay." Ace received a bag full of apples from a local, then he put it on the sledge and rubbed the lynx's head. "Okay Kotatsu? Not too heavy?"

The feline shook it head and proved its point by moving forward.

"Good boy." Ace praised before turning back to Marco. But before he opened his mouth, Marco heard a rumbling sound which he identified as stomach growling. Ace turned so red steam coming out from his hair.

"I suggest we find something to eat yoi."

.

Ace wrote a note and asked Kotatsu to give it to Banshee, a member of Spade who was also in the market somewhere. The lynx nodded and ran away with the sledge. They chose a small restaurant near the market. Marco order a plate of risotto. It was nicely flavored, but it wasn't as good as Thatch's. No one was as good as Thatch.

When Marco only finished half of his plate, Ace'd finished his third portion. Notice Marco's look, the young man simply shrugged. "I'm have high metabolism."

Then something clicked and Ace face-first in his fourth plate.

The waitress screamed in horror. Marco was accused of homicide again but this time he just waited patiently. After fifteen minutes Ace woke up and grabbed a nearby woman's dress to swipe his face. She squealed and slapped him in the face, resulted in a black-hair young man kept eating with a hand mark on his cheek.

"Nice dream yoi?"

"I was chasing a running meatball."

"Sound nice to me." Marco chuckled.

Ace silently looked at Marco for a few seconds.

"Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

"You don't have to yoi. It's already resolved."

Yet the young man persuaded.

"Still, we attacked you. So just tell me if you need anything. I will see what I can do."

It was Marco turn looking at Ace silently. Even though he appreciated their duel and the sudden turning table, he didn't understand why Ace immediately switched his side when he heard about the damaged flag.

"Something wrong?"

"You know that Gonzalez guy like to attack pirate ship?"

Ace nodded, a bit discomfort in his eyes.

"I do. Cover pirate ships in paint and steal something sometimes break the wheel. No, he didn't burn any flag the previous times, at least as far as I know." The young man answered before Marco could ask. "And he only beat those seek revenge. The guy's pompous, but mostly because he's a spoiled child that like bullying others. The local would never go against him, so he targeted pirates instead because it's more challenging.

"…"

"I'm like… half outlaw, I've seen much worse. Although I oppose his behavior, I don't see it as a problem. Not all pirates stay away from the innocent, I believe you know this too."

"…" Marco nodded as an agreement.

"When his father came to us, we'd agreed to protect him from anything if he followed our instructions. He provoked some minor hoodlums, but we easily scared them off. In your case, you know-." Ace waved at Marco. "But if you were from another Emperor's crew, we would do the same. It's what we do, we accomplish our job. I didn't expect the flag though. Must be his first time, he took interest in Emperor and Warlord recently."

That explained the Spade's and Ace's own reaction yesterday, only one more mystery left.

"Why the flag yoi? You seem persistent with it."

"Oh that?" Ace beamed. His eyes lit up like a child. "My old man used to be a pirate."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, but that's a long time ago. Now he's just a drunken dude that like to piss me mother off."

"Seems like a good father yoi."

"He is." Ace giggled. "Taught me how to fight. That old man took the flag very serious, claiming a flag represents someone's will, and every will should be respected. I can only burn a flag if I'm ready for war, because what I'm going up against isn't a person, but a determination and a faith."

"…"

"Mom totally agrees with him. She'll beat me up if I show disrespect to a flag. So yeah, the first rule of my team is not to damage any flag."

"I see." Marco nodded, comprehending Ace's outlook. He was a bit curious about Ace's father though, he seemed to be an honorable guy. He taught Ace how to fight, probably teaching the Haki too, so he must be strong. Maybe they'd encountered in the past.

Marco changed the subject. After all, he wanted to meet Ace for this particular reason. Phoenix was showing such a smug expression he had to prevent himself from strangling the bird.

"What're you going to do next?"

"Some adventures in the Grand Line? We're not pirates, we don't need to rush to Sabaody."

"Do you happen to go to Paladis next?"

"Maybe. We have three Log Poses, our route is flexible. My teammates were fighting over which island we're heading next as we speak." Ace was focusing on his plate, so he missed the triumph in Marco's eyes.

"You just said you want to make it up for me earlier, Ace of the Spade Delivery Service?"

"Ah hah." The young man nodded from reflex, then his shoulders tensed. He immediately eyed Marco with a protective look. "But I won't accept anything endanger my team."

"Nothing dangerous." Marco laughed. "I'm heading to the New World and I'm all alone. You know what happened to my ship. I can take care of myself, but I don't want thing like Gonzalez happen again."

"Are you suggesting that—"

"What do you think about taking offer from an Emperor's Commander yoi? I'll pay twice as the Gonzalez." Two money suitcases could cover that, he didn't need them to begin with. "Make sure that no idiots get their hands on me and my items, that's all. Maybe help me a bit with the shopping."

"…" The offer must have left Ace flabbergasted, because the young man opened his mouth but no word came out.

"I'm also the doctor on my ship, and I can navigate. I'm very handy."

"Uh… You sure?" Ace hesitantly asked. "I mean we were literally enemies yesterday."

"Well first, I want us to be on the same side. We both hope for it, remember?" Marco raised a finger. He waited a few seconds for drama effect.

"And?" Someone wasn't patient.

"And maybe because the Spade Delivery Service has a very cute leader yoi." He grinned, sipping some rum from his cup. Phoenix applauded cheerfully. Oh Sea, cherry blossom immediately spread the young man's cheek, the blooming color was so adorable against his freckles.

"No I'm not! Take that back!"

.

After waiting on his ship for about twenty minutes, Marco saw a larger ship approached. The figurehead was a flaming horse's skull with chains linked the skull to the sides. The foremost sail bore the crew logo, a giant flaming spade wearing Ace's signature hat. The back sail on the top contained the word "SPADE" in black with a smaller "delivery service" right under, and the flag of the team fluttered gently in the wind.

On the skull was Ace, standing with his arms akimbo, shirtless torso exposed to the world.

"Here we are. You ready?"

Ace landed right in front of Marco. His comrades looked at him and Marco with different facial expressions. The three guys from yesterday didn't hide their wariness, meanwhile the rest, Kotatsu the lynx included, simply gave him a curious peek. Marco noticed a middle age woman shaking her head at Ace, she said something to Deuce and the guy burst out laughing.

A vague sense of similarity hit Marco and he narrowed his eyes. Once upon a time, on a faraway island, a ship and its captain had come for him. He suddenly recalled the pure and joyous feeling of being young. The ocean breeze whispered like a lover to his ears and he heard his father's laugh. The salty taste on his tongue brought him back to the good old days when he was a boy exciting for his first sail.

"This, is Piece of Spadille, the pride of Spade Delivery Service-" Ace outstretched his embrace, golden sunshine kissed his body into something brilliance.

"Welcome aboard, Marco."


	3. Spadille

She would never forget the first time her father took her to his workplace.

It was a sunny day, the sky was clear and birds singing along her way. Her father'd promised about this day for months. Everyone in the factory was so nice toward her, giving her candies and telling about their trips to the foreign lands. She was lost in the reverie of joy. When she looked up, her eyes shone at the sight of her father's company's flag. It filled her heart just to see it flapping in the wind, the sound brought calmness to her mind.

Her mother forbade her to come to her workplace, but she'd always been a stubborn girl. She easily tricked her nanny and came very close to the Marine Base, where she would climb on top the tallest tree and used her mini-telescope to peek inside. Exhilaration rushed in her vein when she saw her mother commanding the soldiers. She casted her eyes upward, the white flag with the navy blue symbol fluttered in pride.

She would never forget the day her two endearing flags turned into ash. Another flag was there, pitch-black with a skull and crossbones. Fire burning so bright, roaring to the sky and searing everything on its path. She remembered her mother collapsed in blood. She remembered her father tried to push her away, asking, no, pleading her to run, and then the silence was deafening.

"I'll take care of you from now on." Said her uncle.

She left nothing behind, because there was nothing left. The fluttering sound haunted in both her best dreams and worst nightmares.

She would never forget the day she stood under the navy symbol and pledge her commitment to justice, silently vowed to hunt down the skull of her childhood.

She would never forget the day said skull went down in flame, not under her hand, but by another skull with golden mustache. In the sickening scene of burning corpses stood a man in a coat as red as blood.

She would never forget the day she betrayed he vow and chose the only thing that mean her whole world.

Sometimes, when a breeze came by her garden, the chorus of the leaves reminded her of a ten-year-old girl cheerfully looking at her father's workplace. Sometimes her husband would touched an old and sun-bleached flag with bittersweet in his eyes.

.

"We may need five or six months to get to Sabaody, so it's better if you know something about us."

Ace took Marco to the main deck where all members of the Spade Delivery Service were waiting. They welcomed him professionally, each member shook his hand and introduced themselves.

Spade had twenty members in total and Ace was the leader, but most command came from Deuce. The pair had founded Spade Service in East Blue two years ago. Since he wore a mask over his eyes, Marco guessed the guy wanted to conceal his identity. Deuce handled the paperwork, making contracts and negotiating with the clients. He was the brain, in parallel with Ace being the brawn. He wasn't one of the main combatants, although Marco knew the guy himself was a capable fighter.

"I'm simply this idiot's babysitter." Deuce pointed to Ace and shrugged.

Skull was a tall guy that decorated himself with skulls, fake skulls, luckily. He called himself a pirate enthusiast and his hobby was collecting pirate goods. Though Skull wore a cracked skull mask that covered the upper half of his face, Marco could felt the exciting gaze the guy beamed at him. He nervously gave Marco a notebook with the cover said "All the great pirates I've met". It took Marco a few seconds to realize to guy wanted his autograph. After Marco signed it, the guy immediately burst into tears.

"That's fine. He's just a bit emotional." Ace assured. "Mihar, your turn."

A guy with a giant pair of glasses grinned at Marco; he started to think Ace's team had some issues with true identity. Mihar, the sniper yesterday, was a tall man with thin and long limbs. He reminded Marco of Slender Man, a West Blue's urban legend that liked to kidnap children. He talked politely, too politely for a mercenary, soft voice with beautiful words and proper intonation. He smiled at the end of every sentence, but his grin appeared to slit his face in half. That managed to send a chill down Phoenix's spine and the bird shifted uncomfortably.

"I like children." Mihar curled his lip, his eyes went a bit dreamy as if he was thinking about something joyous.

Phoenix concluded it disliked the guy and didn't want Marco to make any contact with him.

Together, Deuce, Skull and Mihar were the brainy trio of Spade Delivery. They researched about the clients, prepared for the potential threats, developed and executed plans. They spent most of their time in the library, so Marco could go there if he wanted to find them.

The fighting squad had eleven members, including Ace, Kotatsu and the trio that stopped Marco yesterday. Most of them were bulky dudes with intimidating facial features, yet they unexpectedly friendly and easy-going. The yesterday trio hid their discomfort well when they introduced themselves to Marco. It was funny watching Aggie tried to make himself small behind Pinnacle, who only reached his waist.

The rest was in the support group and mostly deal with the logistic task, the only two female members were on this team. Banshee was the chubby middle-age woman that laughed with Deuce when the ship arrived. She had a broad smile and a very firm handshake, her duty was preparing meals for the team. Cornelia, on the other hand, was in her twenties. She'd been giving Marco an examining look since he stepped on board, her eyes scanned him from head to toes like he was a laboratory specimen. She didn't even try to hide it, rubbed her chin as she eyeing him and sniffed him before shaking his hand.

"You're handsome. Ace snatched a good one this time."

"I'm not the first man your captain brought here yoi?"

"The first good-looking one, the rest was weird possessive dudes, if you're asking about the clients. Ace doesn't bring the guys he met in a bar here."

Marco raised an eyebrow at the insinuation, Ace went tomato red and the team burst out laughing uncontrollably.

"Cornie! Too much information!"

.

Marco's original plan was to use a small ship to get to Grand Line, then he would trade for a bigger one as the items increased till he got back to New World. Ace suggested Marco should travel with them, so they'd need less resources instead of running two ships. Spadille was a loop, much bigger than Marco's caravel. Being designed to do the delivering, it already had many vacant rooms for different types of merchandises. After taking a look at Marco's list, Ace was sure Spadille could make it to Sabaody.

Ace showed him around while his teammates did the loading. Marco only needed to carry his personal necessaries, which was a medium-size back pack and the team would handle the rest. Judging from appearances Spadille didn't differ much from normal pirate ships, ten cannons on each side, three square-rigged masts and crow's nest on the top of the main mast. The helm was on the forecastle deck, an uncommon design, but not so strange in Grand Line.

Marco's room was on the second floor of the fore of the ship, next to the women's quarter and right above the men's. The room was prepared in case clients wanted to travel with the team, so it had emergency exits to both quarters, but the Commander doubted he would need any of that. It was rarely used, so everything was as good as new. Marco had his own closet, two queen-sized beds, a shelf, a liquor cabinet, a sink and many other conveniences.

"I and the guys will be right below." Ace stomped on the floor. "If you need anything, feel free to call us."

The dining room and the kitchen was fused to one room near the stern of the ship, the two areas was separated by a bar. The kitchen had a professional setup, yet Marco felt it was a bit off, like it wasn't used to full potential. The dust on the cooking equipment suggested they hadn't been touched for a long time. The bathroom right next to it had shower, a big plus because he did not want sit down to get himself clean.

What Marco did not expect the two greenhouses at the back of the ship. They weren't do-it-yourself made by old window frames when someone on board suddenly interested in flowers, they were full-function greenhouses with covering film, cooling and ventilation system. The door of one greenhouse was currently open. He could smell the earthly scent before he looked inside. Welcomed Marco was a veggie garden so fruitful it made Phoenix mouthwatering, bright red tomatoes, ripe eggplants, colorful bell peppers,… Smaller veggies like lettuce, carrots, onions, and peas were planted neatly in separated plots. His eyes glanced to the bushes in the back and the bird singsonged at the sight of the juicy wild berries.

The other greenhouse was a little bit… darker, the covering was less transparent. Marco couldn't smell anything, but he guessed the air would be filled by aromatic leaves. Unlike the fruitful scene of its neighbor, this greenhouse only had short plants, some leaves was long and reached up the sky like claws, some was dark green with a white stripe in the central, some were all black, some was placed in jar, some already bloomed and the color was strangely vibrant. Phoenix narrowed its eyes and suddenly all its feather on stood up.

"…" Danger, the bird warned.

Marco took a closer look, he only identified very few of them, but he was sure they were deadly poisonous.

"Don't get in there, they're Cornie's, god knows what she has collected." Ace knocked on the covering. "She's a botanist. She invents the greenhouse and takes care of them too. You can get in the veggie though. We planted some bush berries two months ago and they're ready to serve."

Marco decided to skip the storage rooms so that he wouldn't interfere the loading. Ace excused himself to help his crewmates, leaving Marco alone with Deuce in the library at the back of the ship. The Spade'd collected quite an amount of books, row after row of neatly lined up books with their spines facing outward. Marco realized some as he had his own copy on Moby Dick. They also had a shelf for newspapers only. Despite being quite comfortable, there were only five chairs in the room, all surrounded a table. Marco assumed the regular occupants were even less than this number. Posted on the wall was a collection of Paradise's wanted posters, not all of them were pirates', some belongs to bounty hunters, mountain bandits and mafias.

Deuce had a stack of paper in his hand. He nodded at Marco and motioned his hand to a chair.

"Marco. Please have a seat."

"Deuce."

"I believe you know we're getting to the contract thing."

"Shouldn't that be the first step yoi?"

"We're flexible." Deuce replied and waited for Marco take his seat. "Now, introduction first. I believe Ace did that, but one more time to be sure. We're Spade Delivery Service, a mercenary group, specializes in transfer thing from one place to another. "Thing" could be anything, money, treasure, food, rare material, even human. A man once asked us to bring back his kidnapped daughter, that's an example for human. We do not do human, drug, or arm trafficking. We mostly protect merchandises from pirates, sometimes other underworld organizations."

Marco nodded as a signal for Deuce to continue.

"And we also provide services come along with the transferring, such as bodyguard or loading. We do not assassinate. Ace mentioned you may need us help with the shopping, we can do that. Here are all the term and condition. Please ask if anything is unclear."

Marco looked at the blue-hair man in the eyes before reaching out for the papers. Deuce countered Marco's look. If he had any disaffection, he was doing great hiding it. Since the moment Deuce shook his hand earlier, the Commander'd known they were the same type of person, the silent mastermind assisted their king. They both knew the contract was nothing more than paper. Betraying was nothing new, especially with outlaw organizations that aimed for monetary profits. In the world where the strong devoured the weak, trust became the most expensive item. What assured agreement all came down to reputation and honor.

Plus, Marco outranked them all, no term or condition could hold him down.

The special terms were quite simple. The first one is not to damage any flag, and if this term was violated, the team could back off anytime, which Marco already knew. Second, the Spade has to know what the package is. The other sections were normal: the price, the time, the destination, the requirement for the package, what the Spade could do and couldn't do, even the extra fee for the issue that arise,...

Marco.

The Commander signed and gave the contract back to Deuce.

"You don't have any question?"

"For now, no yoi." Marco chuckled, then he remembered something. "Oh there's one. Seem like none of you opposed the idea that I aboard this ship."

Deuce flinched, yet he was back to normal so quick Marco'd thought he imagined it if not for the tense muscles on the young man's fingers.

"That's because Ace'd agreed with this." Deuce signed as the co-founder and gave Marco a copy. "You're now our client."

"He doesn't look like the autocratic type yoi."

"He's not. We just trust him with our lives. He accepted you to get on this ship, so be it."

"Even if I'm the guy with the highest bounty in Grand Line right now?"

"You could be a Noble or an earthworm for all we care."

Damn if that blind trust didn't remind Marco of his own family. He'd lost count the times his father reached out to a pirate that came for his head and asked them to be his son.

"It's a pleasure doing business with you."

"It's a pleasure doing business with you yoi"

They shook their hand once again.

"The arrangement will remain the same as they were on your ship. We have cotton for the fragile items too. All the storage rooms were below, you can take a look after we finish the loading." Deuce pointed to the floor. "As stated in the contract, you can come to the dining room with us on meal time, or order something and we'll bring it to your room. Limited menu of course."

Ace's team was extremely proficient. By the time Marco got to the main deck again, they were moving the very last of his things. His supplies, of course, were transferred to Spadille. Earlier, while waiting for Ace, he'd sold his caravel. On the port was the local shipwrights waiting to pick it up.

The departed in the afternoon.

.

The first day on Piece of Spadille was peaceful. After checking his items, Marco spent the afternoon in his room with the books he borrowed from the library. He let the window open so the salty breeze could caress his skin. For hours, there was no sign of Sea King or thunderstorm, Paradise was so quiet in compare with the unpredictable weather in New World.

In the evening, Ace knocked on his door asking if he wanted to join them for dinner. "To warm it up", the young man whispered in Marco's ear. The Commander could felt the awkwardness his presence caused when he stepped in the room. That made sense, they weren't comrades, but Ace's cheerful nature lit everything up. The young man had a talent for making people relax. He pulled Marco right next to him and got them two massive bowls of soup. Banshee made very delicious vegetable soup and she took Marco's compliment with glee. Some members started to join them while the other began conversation of their own. The uneasiness was soon replaced by laughter.

Thanked to his power, Marco didn't need much sleep. Phoenix didn't seem to get over it joy of being aboard Spadille yet, which turned out to be a bother when he had nothing to do. After finishing his third book, Marco decided to get out of the room and go for a walk. He hoped that no one would think he had some ill intention and ring the alarm bell.

When he opened the door, in front of his eyes wasn't the familiar ship he'd bought near the entrance of Grand Line. The coldness of the wind rose him to wakefulness, an alertness that he wasn't alone on his journey anymore. The feeling was like a dose of adrenaline, dangerous and thrilling at the same time, something he'd been addicted to in his piracy life.

"Can't sleep at new place?" Marco casted his eyes downward and found a grinning Ace sitting on the main deck. The young man had his back against Kotatsu, who was curling into a fur ball. "I'm on watch tonight. The first night after we left an island is my turn."

"You can drink yoi?"

"Beer would do."

Marco got back to his room to fetch two mugs of beer from the liquor cabinet, then he jumped down the main deck and sat opposite Ace. The freckled man happily chugged a large gulp.

"Thanks, I'm thirsty, but too lazy to stand up." Ace beamed, his hair a bit disheveled due to the night gale. He swiped his mouth, his smile widened into a boyish grin, and when he looked up the corner of his lips curled to a sinister smirk. "Someone's jealous of me." The young man waved at the crow's nest. "Skull, he's dying to talk to you."

Ace's laid back attitude made Marco laugh. The freckled man tilted his head in confusion.

"Suddenly remember our fight yoi."

"Oh, about this time wasn't it? You punched me really hard to my face."

"You looked more relax than I expected yoi."

"I shouldn't be?" Ace countered.

"Honestly, I thought you'll be more wary around me." Though Ace claimed he wanted to make up for the fight, the way he accepted the deal with ease more or less bothered Marco. The blonde man knew he was being contradict to himself since he was the one suggesting the offer, but he'd thought he would need more than talking to persuade Ace to make the deal. Turn out Ace nodded easily like making contract with Marco was the most natural thing to do in this world.

"Said the guy willing to go on board a ship of strangers."

"I believe you're the strongest guy here, and we know what happened yoi."

"Fighting requires more than strength, I couldn't make this far without my teammates." He rubbed Kotatsu's chin and the lynx wagged it tail. "But for your concern, you chose us. Everyone know Whitebeard Pirate is an honorable crew. The best we can do is to return with gratitude."

"Is that so?" Marco was pleased at the mention about his family, so he changed the subject. "You always drink with the clients on your watch like this?"

"Yes," Ace snickered, his face lit up under the luminous moonlight. "The first one was a girl. She was too afraid to sleep, so she came to me. She couldn't drink, I gave her a glass of milk, then we talked till midnight, three day in a row. She fell asleep mid-way every time, and I took her back to her room."

"You like her yoi?"

"The cutest girl I've ever met, though she also punched me in my face."

"She's your lover?" Marco asked and was taken by surprise because his voice was a bit grumpier than usual.

"Nah, she… has the wrong anatomy for my taste. And she's eight."

The blonde man choked on his beer, then he remembered Deuce did mention about a kidnapped girl. "I assume she was the "human" that you once… delivered?"

"Deuce told you huh? I preferred rescue, deliver sounded weird."

"And the second one yoi?"

"He's drinking beer with me right now."

Marco laughed. When he exhaled, his breath turned into a visible cloud in the air. Ace laughed too, but there was no sign of a frozen breath. "Well what a coincidence we both punched you, aboard this ship and came to you on your watch yoi?"

"You're too afraid to sleep too?" Ace gave him a cheeky grin.

"No, luckily. It's my power yoi." Marco put a hand on his head to stop his migraine. Some avian just flapped its wing getting ready to take the stage.

"Your devil fruit?"

"Tori Tori no Mi: Model Phoenix. Regeneration power, so I don't need much sleep."

"Cool power." Ace chortled.

"It is, but Phoenix's an annoying bird." The bird cawed as a disagreement, "Remember when I told you not to foretell in the Grand Line? That's Phoenix taking over my body."

"Taking over?"

"Yeah, I can communicate with my power yoi, sometimes it moves my body on its own. Phoenix likes you and wanted to talk to you." Noticed the bewilderment in Ace's eyes, Marco took another sip of his beer. "Hard to believe right? The only devil fruit user I've met with the same ability was my Pops, so I guess it's not a common trait for devil fruit user."

"Not really. Fogo likes you. But it doesn't take over my body, maybe because it's a logia."

"Fogo?"

Ace's hand burst into flame. The flame flickered back and front, the color was a mixture of gold and tangerine, then it curved a bit on the top as if it was trying to said hello to Marco.

"My power, Mera Mera no Mi, but it told me it preferred Fogo, something to do with its first user I believe. It's been more… aggressive since we met, but not in a vengeful way." Ace tilted his head up searching for the right words. He curled his fingers and created a mini sun in mid-air. "Like meet up with a childhood frenemy. You know, meet someone you adore and hate at the same time. When we first met and I ask to sit with you, that was Fogo's wish. I saw no harm, so I did."

Phoenix trilled in exhilaration and before Marco knew it, azure flame flickered to life along his arms. His fingers was covered in blue and feathers appeared on the back of his hand. By instinct, he reached to Ace's hand and also reached for him. To his amazement, the orange flame wasn't as hot as it was yesterday. When their hand were only an inch apart, both flames suddenly blazing fiercely. Crackling sound created a bizarre chorus in the air. Where the flames mingled generated the color of a twilight sky, then color shifted constantly as they pulled and pushed it other, trying to take the lead in their dance.

Kotatsu eyed them warily, its claws showing and ready to strike; probably Skull was watching them with his hand on the alert bell. Marco could sense it all with his Haki and his rational self was telling him to be cautious, yet he couldn't shift his glance from the dancing flames. He finally understood what Ace's mean when he said "'frenemy". The emotion rushing in his vein was the pure joy of love mixed being sting of agony. It was the feeling of hating someone so much yet loving them with all your heart.

He casted his eyes upward, at the same time Ace mirrored his action. Marco saw himself in Ace's silvery eyes and suddenly the conflicting emotion faded away, only endearment was left behind.

"What's Phoenix saying to you?" Ace murmured, he didn't break the eye contact.

"Nothing, but it seems happy yoi."

"Fogo too. Maybe it'll stop be angry with me for losing in our fight."

After what felt like an eternity, the flame dimmed slowly and vanished along the warmth. The coldness of the ocean breeze backed on his skin once again.

"I think they're satisfied." Ace retreated his hand. Marco's fingers reached out in reflex, then he curled into a fist realizing his gaffe. The young man didn't seem to notice as he was taking a long chug of his beer. His cheeks were lightly pink, but Marco could not tell it was cause by the flame's emotion or the alcohol. After the shot, Ace's eyes gained back its normal mischief, his lips twisted up like a naughty feline. "So, Marco, you're sleepy yet?"

"Sadly, no." Marco believed they both need some time to understand what just happened. "Any suggestion-", he noticed something flickered in the silvery orbs, "that isn't milk?"

Ace snickered, his tongue sticking out a bit. "No milk then. How about more beer? You can sit with me till dawn. I have to wait for the sunrise after all."

They talked about the experience with their power first. Unlike Phoenix, Ace's fire was relatively calm; it only voiced itself when it wanted Ace to focus on something. Besides form that, it spent most of the time chilling in Ace's inner world, coming out when Ace summoned, then got back to sleep. That's why all Ace did when he heard about Marco's incidents with Phoenix was putting hands on his stomach and trying to hold his laughter.

"Oh my god, your power has a sense of humor."

"I'm so sick of bird jokes yoi."

"You aren't the first person I met having problem with his power actually. My little brother's a devil fruit user too. His paramecia likes urging him to do stunts."

Much to Marco's surprise, Ace not only have one, but two brothers who weren't related to him by blood; the youngest one, the user of Gomu Gomu no Mi, dreamed of becoming Pirate the King. Ace even warned Marco that someday the boy would take down the Four Emperors. The blonde man laughed it off, but when he heard about the adventures Ace and his brothers did when they were younger, he slightly worried for his father's throne. The kid was insane, he ate danger for breakfast and dinner. With a little brother like that, Ace was lucky he didn't have a heart attack at the age of twelve.

The Commander talked about himself too, how he became a Whitebeard's member, how his family began, how he was kicked out of his ship and ended up on this journey. The conversation escalated to a competition to find out who was the more responsible big brother. Marco had the advantage of quantity, five hundreds was not a small number, but he didn't sure his brothers could outmatch Ace's, who liked to fight giant alligators since they were seven. Not until the first ray of the day sparked on the horizon did Marco realize they'd talked all night.

"My," Ace exhaled, "What a night, isn't it?"

"Yeah, what a night yoi." Marco replied and chugged the last of his beer. They sat silently waiting for the sun to rise from the deep ocean, the wave turned from pitch-black to magenta. The wind was getting warmer and he could see the News Coos flying above.

Some rustling sound could be heard and Marco shifted his glance to the mast. Skull climbed off the crow's nest and ran toward them, his lips curling to a pout.

"No fair Ace! I want to hear his stories too! Next time you sit in the crow's nest!"

"Maybe it wasn't about the place, Skull." Ace giggled. Well, Marco had to that statement was true to some degree.

"Yeah right, how can I resist you, you're always on fire." Skull retaliated, which earned a smugly grin from Ace. Then the masked man turned to Marco, poking his index fingers together like a shy girl, a gesture that did not go well very with his bulky figure.

"Eh… Mr. Marco, may I… ask you a few questions? I… you know… really like pirates. So… uh… would you mind… tell me about… some of your adventures?"

Damn the poor guy could bite off his tongue.

"Maybe in the afternoon okay?" Marco soothed. "I think I need some sleep now, and I think you need some too."

"Yes! Uh… I mean… thank you Mr. Marco! You should sleep! I should sleep! Sleep is good! Uh-"

"That's it buddy. I believe he got it." Ace put an arm around Skull's shoulder. "Let's go, I think I can sleep to dust." Then he turned to the Commander and winked. "See you, Marco."

Kotatsu stretched it muscles and ran after the two men. At the same time Deuce and Banshee came out from their quarters, the blue-hair man seemed to be taken aback by Marco's presence while the woman simply just covered her mouth and giggled.

Marco waved to them as a signal for "Good Morning" and got back to his room.

He woke up at noon, not surprise at the sight of an eager masked man sitting outside his room. The guy even prepared a tray of food. Marco kept his promise, talking with Skull was pleasant, the man had a lot of insightful judgment about pirates and marines. He also helped Marco catch up on the latest news because he was a long-term subscriber of many newspapers.

The following days continued the tranquil routine. Marco liked to hang out in the library. Skull always welcomed him with enthusiast. Deuce showed no specific expression, he just sat at his tables, wrote something, read it again, panicked, and began the circle. Mihar usually did some drawings. It was quiet, unlike the noisy deck where other members fishing, training and gambling. Marco also came to the veggie garden often because Phoenix'd fell in love with the blueberries inside. He got along with Cornelia pretty well because she also had medical knowledge, though Deuce was the true doctor of the crew.

One night, Aggie came to him asking for pinpoint because the big guy wanted to be stronger. Marco happily collaborated and spent the next day knocking the guy to the ground. The combat team, except Ace, joined their little game only to meet the same fate. That night, the dining room was fill with antiseptic.

(Well, Phoenix could heal them, it just didn't want to).

The Commander later learned that Ace had severe narcolepsy, the young man could fall asleep anywhere and anytime. To the fifth day he'd encountered a sleeping Ace in the dining room, the deck, on his way to the library, and right outside the bathroom. The crew didn't seem to bother by it, Kukai claimed Ace'd never slept when he was on watch or when they were in danger.

What could be better than a sleeping beauty? Said sleeping beauty with his chest exposed. Turned out Ace preferred going around shirtless on board. Kotatsu, attracted by his high body temperature, liked to curl around the young man and be his fur pillow, so the two were usually side by side.

Marco sometimes allowed Phoenix to take over his body. The avian was too happy being able to sit on top of the foremast and enjoyed the coziness of a sunny day. It also happened to be a very good spot to for watching a certain shirtless freckled.

.

On the seventh day, something interesting happened.

"Sail, Ho!" Barry hollered and rang the alarm bell. "Five warships. A jolly roger with two burning cigarettes on each sides of the skull."

Deuce immediately dashed out of the library. Marco looked out of the window and noticed several black dots on the horizon. They kept getting bigger, revealed to be a fleet of war ship heading their way.

"That's must be Profaci Pirate." Skull said on his way to the main deck. Because of the mask, his expression was hard to tell, but Marco didn't feel the normal eagerness when the guy talked about pirates. "Originally a mafia organization in West Blue."

The Commander crossed his arms and lazily stood with his back to a wall. He was sure Spade could handle themselves; Ace was already in the defensive mode, his eyes lacked the normal laid back attitude.

"And their reputation?" Deuce shouted from the crow's nest.

"Bad. Very bad. Drug trafficking, arm trafficking, kidnap, murder, arson." Skull pursed his lips, obviously disliked what he just said. "The organization was split in two due to internal wars. One remained as mafia in West Blue, the other became pirates. The captain's called Vic, bounty of 40.000.000 berries. No record of a devil fruit user on the crew. The news said they entered Grand Line a week ago and destroyed a port town on Gamshire Island."

Marco smirked. The first half of Grand Line was sure exciting, rookies in New World preferred laying low at first.

"Don't sound friendly at all." Saber frowned. The combat team had gathered on the main deck. "Do they look like they can, you know, ignore us or let us pass?"

"They're loading cannons. I think it's a no."

"We have thirty, maybe forty seconds before we're in their firing range." Barry warned.

"That's more than enough." Ace put on his cowboy hat and said to a mini Den-Den Mushi "Release Striker." The snail replied "Aye, aye" before Marco heard some engine running below. Fire once again dancing on his shoulder blades, dangerously mesmerizing like the night he went up against Marco.

"…" Blue flame glowed on Marco's fingertips.

"Behave yoi. And don't send power to my lower half."

Ace jump off the ship, then a raft darted toward the enemy. It was a yellow one-man raft shaped like a half crescent, an engine in the back, two paddle-wheels on the sides and a small sail with Spade logo in the back. The transportation seemed to be powered by Ace's fire. The warships started to fire cannons and bullets at the raft but the young man dodged them all with ease. The raft moved on the water's surface gracefully until all five ships stood in a line in front of the prow, then its raider raised his fist.

"Boss's sure all fired up."

"A week and those guy have to kiss Grand Line goodbye."

"Well, he does hate kidnap with a passion."

Inferno roared to the sky and the warships exploded. What remained after the explosion was some burning fragments that soon drown in the deep ocean.

Ace landed on Spadille with a cheeky grin and immediately fell asleep. Deuce and Skull picked the young man up and dragged him to the men's quarter. The transformation between glorious god of war and sleeping princess did no help for Phoenix's crush. It singsonged satisfyingly, the drive was a little bit out of Marco's control.

"Hey, I just said-"

"Grmp!"

Marco jerked. He turned around and found a gleeful Kotatsu chewing on his tail.

"…! …! …!"

"Stop yelling in my ear yoi. It's your fault. I told you to behave."

That was how the mighty Commander of the Whitebeard Pirate started a tug of war with a giant cat, said lynx later started to eye him with unhidden desire.

"Is it me or Kotatsu has a thing for Marco's butt?"

.

Day fifteenth, a teeny-weeny problem was getting on Marco's nerve.

He knew it, he knew something was wrong with the kitchen at the moment he laid his eyes on the cooking equipment. They were too clean for his liking.

Banshee was a baker before she joined Spade Delivery, which mean she was exceptionally good with cakes and pastries. Hell, her cinnamon bun was one of the most heavenly thing Marco'd ever eaten. But for the main course, the only thing she could cook were boiled egg, omelette and vegetable soup.

Marco looked at his tray and closed his eyes to suffer Phoenix's scream. It almost took over his body and asked the News Coo for bird seeds. For two weeks, every time he came to the kitchen, what waited for him were those three dishes. Banshee liked making fruit tarts and shortcakes for dessert, but they couldn't cover the fact that egg and soup were damaging his taste buds.

He blamed Thatch for this. Living with the chef for more than twenty years had increased his expectation in food to the extent same dishes for fifteen days was a level of suffering. No one in the Spade seemed to share his internal crisis, Marco wondered if they addicted to vegetable soup already, they had a greenhouse on board after all.

(They had steak too actually, just took a piece of raw meat from the fridge and asked Ace to snap his finger. That add the number of the main dishes to four, which didn't really do much help).

Marco knew his problem was very personal, it could be worse actually, so he planned to put up with it, yet a certain drama queen didn't come to the same conclusion. The sixteenth day, Phoenix woke Marco up before dawn. It refused to let him back to his sleep, so they just stared at each other in his inner world.

"…!"

"Your friend seemed fine with it yoi."

"…!"

"If fire can consume anything, shouldn't you can too? You was born from fire." Marco sighed, then he sensed someone moving in the next room.

"…" Phoenix demanded and pointed to the door.

"Oh Marco, you're up early today."

"Morning Banshee, the contract didn't mention this, but may I cook yoi?"

"Oh my god. Did you sleepwalk this morning Banshee?"

"Holly shit this risotto's so good!"

"And the salmagundi too. Is it true it's a pirate's dish?"

-! The door sprang open. Ace stood at the entrance swiping his drool. A total new record, since the young man usually skipped breakfast and ate a portion for three at noon. He scanned the room and froze at the cauliflower wellington Banshee holding.

In a blink, he was on his seat with cutlery ready in both hands.

"That wasn't me guys. I only help with the puff pastry." Banshee snickered. "Marco prepared all of them by himself."

Time seemed to stop for one second before nineteen pairs of eyes stared at Marco.

"Husband material." Cornelia murmured.

At the back, Kukai and Barry nodded.

"Suddenly in the mood of cooking yoi."

"That reminded me." Pinnacle said. "Marco, you're looking for some type of food in Paladis right?"

"Yeah, Golden Chanterelle. A mushroom famous for its spicy flavor."

"How much do they cost?" Someone raised their hand.

"About ten millions per kilogram yoi." Marco sipped his rum.

"-!"

"-!"

"-!"

Water was spat everywhere. Ganryu and Ossamondo looked at the dirtied table with utter disgust. Guess Marco knew who was in charge of the cleaning duty.

"Ten millions berries for a kilogram of mushroom?!" Saber slammed on the table. "Sorry boss, I quit. I found my dream. I want to be a mushroom hunter."

"Right behind you buddy." Pinnacle stood up and pat on Saber's shoulder.

Ace kicked them in their butts.

"At least that the price for dried mushroom in the market yoi, I want fresh mushroom. And some Phoenix Oyster too, so I also need mushroom spawn and a substrate."

"Huh?" Except the two women and the brainy trio, the rest tilted their heads.

"Mushroom is fungus, they grow from spores, not seed." Cornelia explained. "You can't put them in the soil, you need spawn, any substance that has been inoculated with mycelium, and a material from which mushroom grow."

"Huh?" They tilted their head to the opposite side.

"Spawn is sawdust, grain and wooden dowel. Substrate is straw, cardboard and wood log." Skull translated.

"Ah…" This time the crew nodded at once.

"Sawdust and cardboard won't be difficult. Are those mushroom sold in the local market?"

"Phoenix Oyster's probably there, but Golden Chanterelle can only be found in the forest. They required specific growing conditions. A heavy rainfall followed by several days of heat and humidity." Cornelia smirked and licked her upper lip. "If luck is on our side I can find some Fly Agaric, Death Cap and Deadly Dapperling. They'll be perfect addition for my garden."

Marco wasn't a mushroom man, but he was sure nothing good could came from a mushroom having "dead" in their name. The crew seemed to reach to the same conclusion because all of them turned pale. "What she said yoi."

"That's why no one is allowed to pick any mushroom without me!" Cornelia's voice turned aggressive as she pointed her index finger at Marco. "I'm going with you!"

"Sure. If you want to." The blonde man chuckled. "You guys only need to guard my items and buy the Oyster yoi. But I welcome companion."

"Make it two." Ace put aside his fourth portion of wellington and reached for the fifth. "Cornie and I will go with you to the forest, the rest will find the other mushroom."

"You don't have to yoi. We'll be fine."

"You're my client, remember? I'm your bodyguard." Ace said, then his voice faltered. "Well, you obviously don't need that, but it's my job. Besides, Cornie's in the support team. I'm in the combat team, I go on field trip."

"Okay then, it's three of us yoi." Marco knew the corner of his mouth was curling up, so he hide it by bowing his head and ate another spoon of cheesecake. What did he just say again? Oh right, he always welcomed companions.

"I… uh, I want to ask one more thing." Aggie raised his hand hesitantly. "Marco… uh, will you cook tonight?"

Twenty pairs of pleading eyes immediately beamed at Marco.

He thought two decades of sailing with five hundred brothers had made him immune with fake puppy eyes from bulky dudes, but he was oh so dead wrong.

.

"Land-ho!"

Day twenty, Piece of Spadille anchored at Paladis.


	4. Mushroom Incident: 1

Thank you you all for the lovely comment, espically Tsunoyo for replying after every chapter. I'm sorry I didn't reply sooner, I'm still struggling with the site format. It seemes impossible to reply a comment without turning it to an inbox.

Here's there next chapter. Hope you'll enjoy it.

Quick summary for the last chapter: Marco wanted a mushroom on the next island. He would go get it with Ace and Cornelia.

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.

.

.

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"Oh it has a stair, I thought we've to climb."

Cornelia chirped at the stony staircase carved into the vertical side of a cliff. From afar, it appeared like a dark slanted line, cutting across the face of the cliff at a near 45° angle. At the bottom of the stair was a trail that could be easily reached from the ship's crow's nest.

"Up there is East Ville, the mountain town of this island. The other side is the port town West Ville", Marco explained, all the things Thatch once said recalled in his mind, "Mushroom are collected in East Ville before being transported to West Ville, where they are shipped to other islands."

"Anything we need to know about the locals?" Ace evaluated the cliff by knocking on the limestone.

"My brothers said they're quite friendly yoi."

"And the potential threats?"

"Maybe some predators in the forest."

"Then it should be easy, we can have a mushroom BBQ feast after this." The young man grinned. They jumped to the staircase and he waved at his teammates. "See ya. We'll meet you guys at West Ville after five days."

"Cornie, I'm counting on you to keep Ace away from trouble." Deuce shouted from the deck.

"Oi! I can hear that!" Ace yelled in disbelief.

"That's the point!"

.

Paladis was a spring island blooming with plant life and warm humid weather throughout the year. It's a relatively small island, only two villages and no marine base, yet it's still under the protection of the World Government due to Heavenly Tribute. Paladis was crossed by three distinct provinces, the mountains, the hilly region and the coastal plain. Mushroom could be found all over the island, but they mostly came from the farms in East Ville and its surround forested area.

The plan was relatively simple, get in the forest for the mushroom Marco wished for and met up with the rest of crew after five days. The stony stair carved into the cliff led straight to the hilly region where East Ville located. It's said the stair was dug by the troop of a fallen king after an unsuccessful siege. The steps were small and high, but nothing the trio couldn't handle. On top of the cliff, they could see East Ville afar, down the hill and close to a giant lake. They decided to get into town for some information first.

" _The people are so nice, Marco. I once saw them taking care of a guy who was found unconscious on the shore-"_

" _They didn't seem wary of me, a total stranger, even asking me how to cook mushroom with butter-"_

" _And the ladies, oh my god. All of them are wife material."_

" _You called all the girls you met wife material yoi."_

" _Yeah, but the girls on Paladis are like super wife material."_

The conversation with a drunken Thatch after one New Year's party was still fresh in Marco's memory. Though he knew his brother tended to exaggerate his stories, there's still some truth his words. The town was exactly the same as the commander expected, lively and spirited; the sweetness of freshly baked bread lingered in the air, marrying well with the smell of cool atmosphere of a temperate area. They passed a wide variety of shop lined on the main street, a flower shop with vibrant flower pots in the front, a butcher with his fresh lump of meat on display and a wine shop decorated with a mannequin holding a giant glass bottle. Chimes of bells tinkling as the people got in and out of the stores.

"Hm, I like this place." Cornelia commented. She was walking by his side while Ace was exactly one step behind. He'd gotten used to her demeanor over the time he spent on Spadille. She was older than Ace, but usually acted a bit childish, yet he never saw a guy on rejected her anything. She stole Saber's food during dinner and the guy didn't say a word. To be fair, Ace did that often, but Saber responded with a whine that screamed adoration toward his captain. In Cornelia's case, Marco felt it was more to some kind of fear.

She spent most of her time alone in her greenhouses, checking on her plants and making sure the crew had an endless vegetable supplier. They came to good term due to the share interest in pharmacology.

The children running by gave them a curious look, probably knew that they were strangers. A girl in a yellow dress stopped and stared at Ace's hat and the freckled ma replied with a charming smile. The girl blushed and immediately ran off.

"Be careful, brats! Or you'll run to someone!"

A middle-age man in a sheriff outfit came out of a grocery store and yelled at the children. When he cast his eyes toward them, his expression stiffened. He placed his hand on the rifle behind his back while Ace and Cornelia switched their positions.

Keeping eye contact, Marco slowly showed the sheriff his empty hands and shook his head. The man tsked, but he let go of his weapon.

"I'm keeping my eyes on you." He gave them a warning look and walked away.

"You know the guy?" Ace gazed after the man.

"I don't think I've met him, but he definitely knows who I am yoi."

"He may be a former marine."

Marco'd reached the same conclusion actually. The way the man standing suggested he'd gone through proper training and marines hated the Emperors with a passion.

They got in the grocery store and asked for a map. The shop owner happily gave it to them, even marking a few places they could visit and stay the night. When they asked where to get the mushroom, she showed the way to the local farms right outside the town.

"Can we get into the forest yoi?"

"You mean you want to pick them yourself? Sure. Ask a farm owner, they can give you a tour around the picking zone. I have the price for each farm tour right here."  
"No, I mean a little bit deeper, like right here." Marco pointed to a hill a bit far away and her smile vanished.

"You… want to go to the forest to find mushroom?"

"Is it not allowed?"

Swallowing, the woman gave them a nervous look. "We don't forbid travelers to get the mushroom outside our picking zones. But I suggest don't, it can be dangerous."

"Why?"

She cast her eyes downward, "About a year ago, we don't go to the forest and pick the wild mushroom anymore. All the mushroom we deliver to West Ville are grown in the farm or collected in specific zone."

"…" No one replied, knowing there's more to the story.

"Our hunters were attacked by a tiger, or maybe a lion, I'm not so sure, no one has seen it clearly. We thought it just a normal mountain lion at first, but it's not. The beast was huge. It attacked the hunters, then came after the delivery men we sent to West Ville. It's smart, we gathered the men and tried to capture it, but it never shows up when the sheriff's there. And when he doesn't, it attacks and lures us to our own trap. That thing's a devil!" The shop owner gritted her teeth and clenched her hand into a fist.

"…"

"So far no one was killed. It doesn't come to town and only attack when we go in too deep. You can pick anything you like, but I suggest you buy some from the local farms."

.

"Hm, there's no Golden Chanterelle on this list, guess they're only in the forest." Ace checked the mushroom tour map. "What do you think Marco? Your call."

"What do you think yoi?"

"The locals obviously gain some commercial benefits if we go on a tour in their farms, so they may make up that story to scare us-" the young man grinned sheepishly, "Or maybe there's a cat monster in the forest."

"Don't think about it boss," Cornelia crossed her arms before her chest, "Don't."

"I always want to find Kotatsu a bride."

"One, we don't know if it's a girl. Two, Kotatsu may not want a partner bigger than he is. Three, Deuce'll kick you off the ship. And you-" she turned to Marco, her lower lip protruded in a sulky pout, "When will you tell me your secret plan?"

When they were on Spadille, Marco'd claimed he only needed five days at most to find Golden Chanterelle. Cornelia was so shock of this statement she kept insisting on how he would do it, because, her words, "five days was too short to search for chanterelle mushroom in a forest you'd never been before" and "you think Golden Chanterelle is like dried leaves, look down and it's right next to your feet?"

Marco laughed it off and said it was his secret. Cornelia started to stalk him around and burst out from unexpected places. He found it quite funny though. Deuce and Skull, sadly, not so much; the latter guy almost had a heart attack when he found her crawling on top of a bookshelf.

"You've waited for days yoi, how 'bout a little more until we reach the forest?"

.

When they reached the edge of the forested area, Cornelia's eyes had become so fierce if it could drill a hole in Marco's chest. The Commander insisted on walking a little deeper until they were out of the locals' sight. They stopped next to an oak tree, where he gave his bag to Ace as he smiled.

"Take care of my body will you?"

"Wha-?!"

Marco snickered at the rosiness rising on Ace's cheek, then he let his body be consumed by azure flame. His surrounding twisted at an accelerated pace and shifted to a monochromatic shade of black. A burning figure came into his sight and materialized.

"Like I promised, till the sunset yoi."

The figure screeched and Marco felt his body became much lighter. His body took off the ground and landed on Ace's arm.

The freckled man was clearly taken aback by the transformation. He gave Marco a once over before leaning closer and stared directly into his eyes, then realization flickered in the silvery irises. He let out a sigh as he caressed Marco's cheek, his fingers was covered in blazing orange flame.

"You're no longer Marco, aren't you?"

His body nodded.

"Phoenix right? How can we find that mushroom?"

Phoenix cooed and took off again. Pleasure filled Marco's heart when the bird outstretched it wings and played with the pristine air. It soared in the springy breeze and landed on the top of the oak tree. The bird took a deep breath and let out a sonorous melody.

The song was short, and the response was nothing more than rustling in the wind, but Phoenix knew better than that. It waited patiently until it sensed movement in the lower forest layer.

Wuk wuk wuk.

Phoenix looked down and found a red-headed woodpecker on a lower branch.

Wuk wuk wuk wuk wuk.

The woodpecker drummed its beak.

Phoenix cawed as a thank you and returned to Ace's arm, then it lifted its wing and pointed to the north.

"Are you showing us where to go?" The young man asked.

The bird nodded.

"You're not changing back to Marco?"

Phoenix shook it head.

"He's not coming out or you don't let him?"

It shot Ace a deadpan gaze.

"All right, all right, north then." Ace placed the bird on his shoulder.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, this isn't our client anymore, but his power." Cornelia examined Phoenix from head to toe just like the first day she met Marco. "And it just asked that woodpecker where the mushroom is?"

"I think so."

"Can all Zoan user do this? Does he still have human intelligence, or he's at bird level now?"

"I don't know," Ace shrugged and gently petted the Phoenix, "He's the first Zoan user I met."

"Cheater. I should have known his secret trick is something I'm not capable of."

Phoenix made a squawking noise that sound like a laugh.

"Oh great, I was laughed by a bird. I want a Zoan devil fruit too."

"Sure, if we find one, the guys won't compete it with you." Ace led the way to the deep forest.

"Hey Cornie, do you think if you eat a cicada fruit, you'll have to wait 15 years for the nymphs to emerge from underground before you can talk to them?"

"Screw you Ace. If I can transform to a giant cicada, I'll never let you sleep."

.

Marco silently judged the trembling bird in front of him.

The thing about his power was that every time he let Phoenix took over his body, he could both feel the bird's emotion and be aware of how his body moved. Phoenix was thrilled being outside and next to the freckled man. His current body was at the size of a crow, the smallest size Phoenix could be, so it didn't cause any trouble for Ace's movement while it sat on his shoulder. The young man originally placed Phoenix on the middle of his shoulder, but somehow the bird managed to move closer to his carrier, its feathers kept brushing against the raven locks. Ace'd blazed his shoulder on fire, which only added fuel to the avian's excitement.

Phoenix was so happy it could soared across the sky singing love song till dust, yet outside the real world, it was struggling to maintain a professional and expressionless face. Trying to be cool, Marco assumed. As the result, in his monochromatic inner world, Marco was siting face to face with a quivering bird, while said bird was using its wings to cover its eyes and blushing rosy cheeks.

The Commander sighed. Luckily Phoenix never used his real body to do that, he could never live it down.

Though it wasn't bad appreciating the outside world through Phoenix's eyes. He and Ace were at the same eyes level, so when Phoenix turned its head, he could see his bird form reflected in those grayish eyes; that reminded him of the fight in which he pinned the young man to the ground and studied his facial features. A glorious moment, because he was a simple man that took pride in conquering a worthy opponent. Such an impressive power compressed in a body that hadn't reach the age of twenty. If Pops had a chance to meet Ace, Marco had no doubt the old man would want the fire logia to be a part of their family.

Maybe his power had been staring for too long, because Ace finally noticed and returned with a smile so bright it made the bird trilled in exhilaration. When the younger man caressed the flaming feathers, the satisfying feeling was transferred to Marco and he couldn't say he dislike it.

Ace and Cornelia picked a basketful of edible mushrooms on the way and they made mushroom hot-pot for lunch. By hot-pot, Marco mean the duo boil everything they found and took the ingredients out before they became overcooked. Phoenix was content with the onigiri he prepared.

In the afternoon, they ran across a cluster of Fly Agaric, a type of mushroom that'd been recorded to cause hallucinations. Cornelia looked like Christmas and her birthday coming at the same time. Ace's face turned as white as a sheet when he watched her singsonged cheerfully and put the mushroom in her bag.

Zray zray zray zray zeeee.

Phoenix cast its eyes upward and found a little guy peeking at them curiously from the higher forest layer. It was only less than 4 inches long. The color of its feather was a gorgeous light blue with black streaks; a ring of blue feather across the white upper part made the bird looked like it was wearing a blue necklace. His power cooed a soft melody and the bird descended and landed on Ace's finger.

Marco muttered to himself. "So this spring island also has this guy yoi."

The bird chirped to say hi.

"Hey there, little one," Ace said.

"Cerulean warbler," Cornelia took a closer look, "Quite common in spring island, but they aren't human-friendly."

"Must be because of Phoenix then. You're Phoenix's friend?"

The warbler tilted it head, then it leaned and nudged Ace's thumb. The young man petted its feathers and the bird let out a satisfying coo. Phoenix narrowed its eyes and Marco felt an unpleasant churn rising in his guts, a feeling that only happened when the avian's favorite spot on Moby Dick was taken.

Suddenly the Commander sensed an abrupt movement coming to their way. Ace seemed to notice it too since he stopped petting the bird and started to look around. Realizing his action, Cornelia put a hand in her pocket and cautiously evaluated their surroundings.

Running sound resonated in the air, a loud shriek echoed, then a giant wild boar hit a tree on its way. Behind the creature were two mountain lions. One of them jumped on the boar trying to trip it down while the other assaulted it from the side, but the boar managed to toss the smallest lion away with it canine teeth and turned to the left, charging the trio at full force.

Phoenix hummed toward the little bird, they both spread their wings and went airborne to avoid hinder Ace's movement.

"Here's come dinner~~" Ace cracked his knuckles, sparkling flame dancing on his skin, but Cornelia grabbed his collar and pulled him back.

"Oh no no, you're not allowed to fire-fist anything in a forest. Remember what happened when we recruited Banshee?"

"That's a long time ago!" Ace went tomato red and Cornelia shot him an unimpressed look.

Definitely a long story behind that, maybe Marco could bribe Skull to share it.

The boar was reaching close, steam coming out of its nostrils on the run. Ace did a finger signal toward the creature and Cornelia replied with a nod. One more lion burst out from the shadow and tried to snatch Ace with its claws, but the young man grabbed a lion right below it neck and wrestled the beast to the ground.

In the meantime, to Marco's surprise, Cornelia ran toward the boar. She dodged aside just in time and snapped her finger. The boar suddenly stood still like all energy was sucked out from its massive body. Then it began to tremble, the muscles twitched and jerked, until it stared dreamily into the blank space before closing it eyes. Ace delivered the final blow and its body went numb.

The Commander didn't surprise Ace could take care of the creatures with ease, he was more fascinated by Cornelia's attack, the finger snap that paralyzed the boar beforehand. Either she had something up in her sleeve, literally and figuratively, or she somehow surpassed his Observation Haki, and that was pretty impressive.

Well, he guessed Deuce didn't ask her to take care of Ace for no reason.

The three lions circled the two Spades and hissed aggressively, hunching their shoulders and swishing their tails, a sign showing they'd attack to gain back their prey. They were at tall at Ace, not a beastly size, but they could be terrifying enough to the normal civils. Yet their attempt had poor effect on the freckled man. Ace unsheathed his dagger, earning a cautious look from the lions, and cut one of the boar's leg off.

"We'll take this as the supporting fee." He smiled cockily at the mountain lions and pointed to the biggest one. "You need to be stronger you know that?"

Then he stepped away from the boar's carcass, gesturing them to get their prize.

The lions looked at each other and the biggest one grumbled; it kept its eyes on Ace and Cornelia while the other two carefully approached the boar and dragged it away. Finally, the three lions ran deeper into the forest as Ace gazed after them with endearment in his eyes.

Cornelia, on the other hand, rubbed her chin.

"Ace, they're mountain lions right?"

"Yeah."

"There're three of them."

"Yeah!"

"Working at a team."

"Sweet, right? Surviving in a forest together."

"Mountain lion doesn't do that Ace, that's a wolf thing."

Marco dumbfounded at that for a second, then it clicked in his mind that except for lions, big cat species live a solidary life when they grow up; therefore there's no way three adult mountain lions could come in good term in the wild.

Air seemed to be stuck in his lungs as his lips curled into a smirk. Marco couldn't stop the disturbing feeling rising in his veins. He hated being reminded that he could be neglected and didn't focus enough to his surroundings. It was time like this he felt he'd failed his family at some point.

Marco knew he's strong, yet being strong easily lead to one particular mistake, which is recklessness. The only thing Marco feared more than his father's declining health was the fact he might misjudge passive threats. Thatch usually laughed and called him a mother hen, but he couldn't let himself at ease if he wasn't sure his brothers was safe. There were things out there, didn't look dangerous and easily slipped through his Observation Haki, but could end up endanger his family.

He misjudged situations in the past. Pops never blamed him, and so far none of them led to a horrific consequence, yet in the night, when he was alone in his room, he couldn't help but wonder what could happen if he was a little more careful, a little more observant, a little more judicious. What's the point if he could stop an Emperor's attack, but underestimate a cough that was a symptom of a contagious disease? What's the point if he could predict a thunderstorm coming, but miscalculated a cannon ball attack?

It was the little tiny details that always manage to get on Marco's nerve, and the fact he failed to notice them unfailingly make him angry with himself.

Such luck, only three mountain lions acting strange. It's not going to harm his family right? Or can it? Can what happened here affect the New World?

Phoenix cut off his thinking by curling in his lap and caressed him with it feathers.

"…" The bird cooed softly.

"Pops never said such cheesy thing yoi, that's Jozu's shit.

The lions left the area his Observation Haki could detect. Just like Cornelia discovered, they ran together, never stopped for once or tried to split apart. Ace still looked to their direction, but he didn't make any comment.

Zray zray zray.

In the outside world, the little warbler poked at Phoenix's feather.

Zray zray zray zray zeeee.

 _Be careful with the big cat._

They said goodbye to the cerulean warbler and continued to the north with Phoenix sitting on Ace's other shoulder. The trio found an empty cave before the sun went down and decided to stay the night. They didn't find the chanterelle Marco was looking for yet, but he's positive they were getting close. Ace walked around looking for fuel wood and Cornelia prepare to grill the boar's leg.

"So… sunset. Give me back my body yoi." Marco told his power.

"…"

"What do you mean extra hours for emotion support?"

After dinner, the two Spades divided their shift to guard the cave. Marco, being their client, didn't have to stay on watch. Cornelia volunteered for the first half because she wanted to study the mushroom she picked earlier. Ace used his bag as a pillow and immediately snored when his back hit the ground. Phoenix, sly as always, climbed on the young man's chest and comforted itself.

Marco gained his body back after Ace woke up for his shift. Cornelia gave him a cryptic look as he headed outside.

"Oh hey there Marco." Ace was sitting by the campfire grilling mushroom.

"Evening, yoi." Marco's joints made crackling sound as he stretched his muscles. Damn little shithead, he should have strangle it a bit harder.

"I was wondering if I ever see you again in the next four days."

"Couldn't let that bird control my body for too long," Phoenix cawed as a disagreement, "Miss me?"

"Maybe," Ace hummed and gave Marco a cup of water, "too bad we don't have any rum tonight."

Marco chugged a large gulp and received a stick meat from Ace. The meaty flavor enriched when he ate it with the grill mushroom. They sat in silence and enjoyed the late supper, yet the quietness was comfortable and warm like the companionship between two long-time friends. The crackling sound of bonfire filled the air as Ace laid his back on a large rock, hands behind his head in a relaxing manner. At some point, they both cast their eyes upward and contemplated the sublime starry night. Somehow the constellation reminded him of his companion's freckles and he turned aside just to be surprised because Ace was looking at him. Flame was dancing in the silvery irises and suddenly his cheek went hot. He averted his gaze and poured himself a cup, earning a childish snicker from Ace.

"Your eyes, that's how I know if you're Marco or not."

"Pardon yoi?"

"When you lend Phoenix your body, your eyes turn to black, while your normal eyes is blue."

"Is there anything else?" Marco unconsciously gripped his cup.

"And your blue fire is beautiful."

"Is this you or your power's saying yoi?"

"How about both?" Ace opened his hand. From his fingers, little fireballs ascended and started floating around. They sliced through the darkness with their sugary light and danced around Marco like real fireflies. Before the Commander knew it, his power already flickered on his hand to respond.

"Then you both have very good taste yoi."

Marco smiled when a fireball landed on his palm, then something triggered his Observation Haki. Some, because he sensed more than one presence. There were at least twenty of them, twenty of four-leg creatures, coming from every direction. He tried to use other sense to evaluate the threats, but all he managed to hear was the rustling in the wind and the crackling bonfire; the lack of sound hung in the air like a gaping void hungered to be filled.

"Something wrong, Mar-?" Ace looked at him questioningly, then the young man straightened himself.

Marco furrowed until he spotted several silhouettes lurking under the forest canopy like they were a part of the shadow world. Two eyes appeared, flickering viciously in the dim light, then another pair came into view until they were surrounded by glowing emerald eyes. A pack of mountain lions emerged from the dark, a bit larger in size as those they countered in the afternoon. Cornelia's prediction was correct, something wasn't right with the mountain lions. This was a huge pack that contained more than twenty individuals, yet their movement was deliberate and coordinating, like they knew exactly what they were doing. They approached the campfire slowly and steadily, the tread as quiet as a feather falling to the ground.

The pack leader stood in the front, its head held low and shoulders hunched up in a hostile manner. Beneath the two glowing eyes, a grin slit its face, showing rows of vicious sharp teeth.

"Don't." Ace grumbled, countering the leader's glare.

The creature made a hissing sound as it kept moving forward. The other lions bared their teeth and followed suit.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The freckled man sat still, elbows on his knee and hands clenched together near his mouth.

The lions' blockade closing in from all sides.

Silence stretched thinner and thinner, until the temptation to rupture it was too great to resist. Marco prepared himself in case he had to get involved.

The lions leaned back in prepare for a launch, and a shockwave rippled through the air.

Marco turned his head so fast he neck made a crackling sound.

The lion pack froze in their tracks like ice sculptures; literally ice sculptures, because Marco no longer detected their breath. The only thing kept the lions standing was probably the excessive fear to the point they didn't dare to quiver. Marco'd been living in New World too long to accurately evaluate the power of a Conqueror Haki shockwave. What the young man just did didn't strong enough to render the lions unconscious, but it sent a clear message, a proof declaring what he was capable of more if they made the wrong move.

"Go." Ace said quietly like a whisper.

The shockwave faded, but it took the pack leader a while to respond to Ace's command. It shook its head and tried to move its trembling legs, then it looked around and checked its subordinates, none of which could kept itself straight any longer. The leader sniffing and licking to bring his friends out of their frozen state, then they all stepped backward and bowed their heads in a submissive indication. The lions collected themselves and slowly returned to the dark, treading as silently as they came.

Ace relaxed his muscles and continued to wait for the mushroom on the grill, unaware of the impact he lay upon Marco.

After weeks spending on Piece of Spadille, living side by side with the young man, listening to his stories and involving in many little escapades, Marco thought there's nothing more to unlock about Portgas D. Ace. And yet he was right back at the very beginning, amused and flabbergasted for what Ace could do.

Having both Observation and Armament? Okay, Ace's father a pirate, the guy probably been to New World at some point, he taught Ace Haki, Ace had a knack in mastering the mysterious power in living being. Fine, Haki prodigy, happened all the time in New World.

But Conqueror?

Like the time Ace managed to hit Marco with his Armament imbued attacked, the way he projected Conqueror looked nothing like he just awoke the rarest type of Haki. Hell, it suspiciously looked like he'd been training for a while.

Then again, why should he be surprised if Ace was a Conqueror? The young man had been nothing less than a raw gemstone waiting for the world's recognition.

"What?" Ace cut the Commander off his thought. Damn, he must've been making a stupid expression if Ace gave him a concern look.

"You have Conqueror Haki yoi." Marco said in amazement.

"Yeah, really useful right? Easy to avoid unnecessary battle."

"You didn't use it in our fight."

"I was about to actually, right before we were interrupted," Ace tilted his head, "Why are you acting so surprised? I thought New World's like a heaven for Conqueror users."

"Believe me when I say even in New World, Conquerors are extremely rare yoi."

"Oh," Ace made a sound and shrugged, "Well now you know I'm a Conqueror. I don't use it much though. I like to keep it as a last resort for life-and-death situation."

"The lions is a life-and-death situation while _I'm not_ yoi?" Marco didn't know if he should feel offended by that.

"Yes," Ace chuckled, "Sleeping is a matter of life and death." The young man looked into the cave, adoration plastered across his face as the sight of Cornelia's sleeping figure. She rolled onto her side peacefully, clueless of the shenanigan just occurred.

Marco averted his gaze to Ace, who was still giggling, and felt a bang in his chest. He didn't know why he needed to keep his head down to stabilize his breathing.

"So Mr. Client," the young man teased, "you're going back to your sleep, or resting in your bird form tomorrow?"

"What's the point of having another being in your head if you can't abuse it yoi? I assume you used Conqueror on your previous mission?"

"Yeah, want to hear it?" Ace gave him a stick of mushroom.

"Why not yoi?" Marco took it and grabbed a bite.

"Okay, so back in the day the Spade only had five members…"

.

.

.

.

.

And that's the wrap for their first day on the new island. I don't want to write too much about fighting (how many guys can keep themselves against Marco in Paradise), so there won't be many battles. Instead I want to focus more about the adventures (and of course romance). There'll be shading schemes around, but they won't be so dark :

The scene which Marco's mad with himself for failing to notice the lions' behavior is inspired by Usopp. Yes you read that right, Usopp.

One thing I like about him is that he freaks out so easily he never underestimates any threats, which make him so important to the crew. Because seriously, look at the monster trio, they're like go big or go home. Luffy'll punch the lions, while Usopp realizes a weird spot on its fur and be like "oh my god what if that thing has a contagious disease we should go now".

That's the inspiration for the scene. What could make Marco angry? His family being in danger of course. But what could make him angry with himself? His misjudgment leads to said danger, so he'll be pissed off if he misses the little details.


	5. Mushroom Incident: 2

The second day was incredibly serene, there were no sight of angry predators. As they walked deeper into the forest, the blue sky above scattered little pieces of puzzle and the air was rich with the fragrance of leaves. Sheltered by the mighty canopies were the birds of enchanting color; they watched the trio with curious gaze, even cooed softly to say hello.

In the afternoon, they found golden chanterelle clusters near a hazel tree reaching the stage of decay; the tangerine mushroom simply sparkled in the summer light, emitting a fruity aroma. The trio gently dig the mushroom out and put them in a basket. The harvesting didn't take longer than thirty minutes.

"So I guess we're coming back?" Ace asked as he grilled a stick of chanterelle.

"Still early, we can leave by tomorrow. You two want to do anything yoi?" Marco gave Cornelia a meaningful look, he knew she wanted to find something in the forest.

Cornelia took the hint immediately, she poked Ace in his ribs and waggled her eyebrows cheerfully. The young man sighed and turned to Marco.

"You sure? Do you want to get back to East Ville for some rest, or come to West Ville early?"

"I'm not a damsel-in-distress yoi," Marco sat on a root, implicating that he's willing to wait, "And no hurry here, the Log Pose won't point to the next island till three days later.

"If you say so," Cornelia chirped and started to collect her gears, "Stay with him boss, I'll be back before sunset."

"Be careful, Cornie." Ace said, the words sounded like a reminder and a command at the same time.

"I'll be fine," Cornelia ticked her tongue, "You're not the only one grew up in a forest."

...

They set a campfire and grilled the chanterelle. Ace fell in love with the spicy flavor so fast he decided to pick some more to share with the other Spades. At one point, the birds from the canopies above descended and asked for a share. Soon the two were drowned in a melodious chorus of chirping and tweeting, Phoenix took part in the chorus by asking Marco to switch their places.

When the sun began to fall, the birds said goodbye and returned to their home, silhouette of bird flying across a sky that was now magenta. Azure flame sparked and Marco gained his body again. He stretched his muscles, and suddenly realized Ace was giving him a very strange look.

"What yoi?"

"You sure spoil your power a lot."

"Pardon?" Marco raised an eyebrow, he didn't remember spoiling any annoying bird.

"You let Phoenix take over your body anytime it wants." Ace chuckled like he was pointing out a matter of fact, which did not amuse Marco at all.

"I'm sure I'm not spoiling it."

"Yeah, right." Ace giggled and cast his eyes upward, "Cornie should be here at any minute now."

Yet after the sun sank behind the horizon there was no sight of the female Spade. Ace's expression was stony, but the twirling campfire had sold his inner insecure out. His eyes followed every sound in the wind until they both sensed two people heading their way. Marco narrowed his eyes, one person dragging another to be exact, because the other's movement was motionless as if they were unconscious or injured. Ace's eyes sharpened and flaming sparks began dancing on his arm.

"Hey, boss. It's me." Cornelia shouted, at the same time Marco realized she was the one moving. She emerged from the bush and looked perfectly fine, only a bit messing in her hair. The unconscious man she was pulling was no stranger to them, he was the sheriff they encountered yesterday.

"Cornie, you worried me," Ace's exasperated before he bolted to her side, "What happened?"

"Oh, I met him on my way back, and he attacked me. I only self-defense. He'll be awake in the next hour."

Marco leaned down and examined the man, his heart rate was fine and there was no external injuries. His pants were covered in leaves and broken branches. Although the man was unconscious, he still grasped his weapon very tight.

"Did he mention why he attack you? Why did you bring him here?" Ace sounded annoyed, Marco guessed he wasn't happy his teammate being attacked at all.

"I don't know, he charged at me without saying anything, so I think you may want to talk to him."

.

Ace was the first to react when the sheriff woke up. The guy was lying still, but Marco knew he had gained his consciousness and was playing the fake-death card. In a blink he snapped upward and searched for his flintlock, which Ace'd taken away and was currently right beside Marco's leg. Sheriff cursed and held a defensive stance.

"I know you, you're Marco the Phoenix, the First Commander of the Whitebeard Pirate," he sneered and Marco replied with a nod, "Then these two must be from your crew."

"I'm Ace and that's Cornelia," Ace introduced, and Marco almost chuckled because of that formal manner. "Why do you want to attack us?"

The sheriff didn't answer, his eyes focused on the Marco and the weapon instead. Ace turned around as if he was about to ask for Marco's opinion, leaving his back exposed to the sheriff. It was a bait, a successful bait, because the man immediately approached Ace and tried to restrain him from behind, only to find the attack went through his elemental form.

"You're logia." Sheriff's eyes dilated before he jumped backward.

"We're not going to hurt you, so please explain why you attacked us."

"What did you do to Nita?" The sheriff snarled.

"Nita?" Ace tilted his head in confusing, he looked at Cornelia and she shook her head, "We don't know any Nita."

"She pumped to you yesterday!"

Marco suddenly remembered about one particular girl that that kept staring at Ace's hat while they first came to East Ville.

"Is she the girl in the yellow dress?"

"So you do know her! Where is she? What did you pirates do to her?"

Twenty years ago, young Marco would felt insulted because of the stereotype hatred, now he simply smile and said, "If you know I'm a Whitebeard, then you should know we never lay our hands on kids yoi. I assure you we've never meet her since our small encounter yesterday."

"Then how do you explain this? I found it near your camp site."

Marco grimaced at a cloth sheriff pulled out from his pocket, even from a distance he could see the blood staining on the fiber. Not much, but it mean the girl was injured.

"Are you saying she's in the forest all by herself?" Ace asked worryingly.

The sheriff glanced at Marco's direction and the blonde man countered by a calm but stern gaze; he knew the guy thought he was the commander here. The sheriff then averted his eyes to the campfire, their baskets and the unfinished dinner, his orbs shrank as he gritted his teeth. Marco hoped the gesture mean sheriff realized he'd made a false accusation.

"What business does Whitebeard Pirates have on this island?" The man spat instead of answering Ace's question, this time his voice was less aggressive.

"I'm here to find the golden chanterelle. We asked the civils, they said we can take anything in the forest as long as we don't disturb their gardens yoi."

"Why here? There has to be another spring island in the control of Whitebeard Pirates."

"About ten years ago, our Fourth Division Commander came here and found that mushroom in the forest. He said this island had the best chanterelle in this world." Marco explained, "Look, we've only been here for less than two days, and we have nothing to do with the people here. We don't know the girl, but as you said she might be in danger. She's the priority now, so I suggest you stop wasting your time with us."

The sheriff bit his lip and scanned the whole camp site again. At last, he let out a weary sigh.

"My name is Bernard, the sheriff of East Ville. This morning Nita was reported missing by her father. She was playing hide and seek with her friends but no one could find her. We've searched all the safe zone. I found this piece near the edge of the forest and tracked her down here. The last trace was near where that woman standing."

"You pointed your gun to my head without a word, how should I react?" Cornelia exasperated.

Ace snapped his finger and the campfire enlarged, lighting up a wide area. Sheriff took a step backward as Ace collected himself.

"We'll help you find her, Mar-"

"Coming of course," Marco grabbed his bag and checked the first-aid kit, he always carried them around, "Where did you find the last trace yoi?"

The sheriff was caught up in a fluster state, but he accepted their assistance nonetheless and led them to where he spotted Cornelia. Using the campfire as beacon, they separated into two groups, each group having a fire user. In the dark, identifying anomalies became a great challenge. Marco had to expand his Observation to the furthest, yet it took him an hour before he caught a fragile breathing in the air. He signaled Cornelia and they both ran in said direction. The closer he got, the more certain he was that the faint breathing belonged to a child. Finally, they spotted a small girl leaning against the root of a giant tree.

"There she is," Marco dashed toward the girl, blue flame emerging in his hand as Cornelia fired a flare shot to the sky. The girl fidgeted when he approached, so he tried to assure her with a smile, "Nita right?"

She nodded and glanced at him. Her eyes were in a hazy state, but the irises still reacted to his movement. A good sign.

"We're here for you. My name is Marco, I'm a doctor yoi. I'm gonna check you up okay?"

Nita nodded again. He checked her breathing and pulse first, they were a bit lower than average, but nothing too serious. Her head was in the usual position, yet he laid his flaming hand behind her neck in case something went wrong with her spine. Then he examined her limbs. There were a lot of scratches, he suspected they were caused by the lower branches. The most serious wound was a bruise on her leg, but he could easily heal them all with his flame.

Marco let out a sigh of relief. He took a small vial from his pocket and poured it her mouth, "Drink this, it'll make you feel better."

"Nita!" Bernard shouted, "What are you doing?"

"Electrolytes balance," Marco waited until the girl swallowed the liquid and checked her heartbeat again, "She's fine. No serious injuries except for a small bruise on her leg."

"Nita, it's me, Bernard the Sheriff," the man approached her, "You remember me?"

The girl nodded hesitantly but that alone made the man's shoulder relaxed. He bended down to pick her up, but she jinked away and grasped Marco's shirt instead.

"Nita?" Bernard puzzled.

The girl stared at Marco, the little hand shaking, words seemed to choke in her throat. Rustling sound echoed in the air, her eyes averted to where the Spades standing and the dark canopies before returning to Marco, pleading and anxious. The commander held her hand and gently picked her up.

"Go to sleep, I'll take you home yoi."

Her lips stopped shaking, but refused to close her eyes.

In Marco's inner world, Phoenix cooed softly.

...

With the unexpected incident, they decided they should head back to East Ville in the middle of the night. They got to the town right before sunrise, the sun welcomed them with golden and majestic glow. Bernard said goodbye and took the unconscious Nita to a hospital. The trio went to a local inn for accommodations. Luckily, there were two vacant rooms; Marco, with the client privilege, had one room for his own.

His back hit the mattress right after he closed the door. Even he had Phoenix, he didn't like staying awake for more than 24 hours. The older he got the more he appreciated a healthy sleeping habit. He needed to be in good shape to take care of 500 people after all. Just when he was about to dose off, his Haki caught a swift movement in the next room.

"He's sure energetic yoi."

"…"

"And I'm very aware how old I am, thank you very much."

The blonde man didn't need to look out of the window to know Ace just dashed out of the inn, and he had an idea where the freckled man heading to. To check the information he believed, because that's also what he planned to do since he got back to town.

Though Bernard never stated out loud, Marco knew the guy must have been a decent marine in the past, but it took the man almost a day to find a girl, who accidentally followed their path and fell unconscious near their camping site. He doubted a normal ten-year-old could outran an ex-marine in a forest that had predators. Someone, or something, must have protected her and taken her there, because there's no way she could gone that far on her own.

He wasn't the only one with the suspicion. At one point, Ace, who was the lead runner due to being a living torch, turned around to check on the girl and their eyes met. It was a brief moment, but Marco knew Ace'd reached to the same conclusion as he did. Plus, his Haki kept warning him about the creatures watching them from the shadow since the moment they found the girl.

The commander gave a short snort to the ceiling. He didn't expect a small trip to find mushroom to be this… concerning. Normally, he wouldn't take part in a local problem, gods knew how many underground organizations wanted a piece of his family, yet this incident might involve a child and his morality refused to let it be.

Sometimes Marco hated his own tendency of avoiding unwanted confrontations. Ace's ardor was something really worth jealous of.

When he got out of the shower he sensed the freckled man coming back. There was a loud bang in the next room, an argument, silence, then a hesitant knocking on his door.

"Come on in yoi." Marco put on his pants and purposely abandoned his shirt.

"Excuse me-" Ace opened the door and his eyes dilated; amusement flickered in the silvery orbs.

"Like what you see yoi?"

"Definitely," The young man grinned, unashamed of what he did, then his face turned serious, "but there's something I need to ask. Do you want to get to West Ville today?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I'd like to stay here till tomorrow, so if you want to go to West Ville now, Cornie will escort you there."

Marco hummed and walked to the door. Ace might be a bit more muscular, but Marco had the height advantage.

"You've been awake for more than twenty-four hours yoi," he said, "There're bags under your eyes."

"So? I'm not a damsel-in-distress."

"How can you protect me if your narcolepsy kicks in?"

"I-"

"And you also said sleeping is a matter of life and death yoi."

Marco left no room for negotiation. Blue flames sparked on his finger, and he stopped Ace's protest by caressing the freckles cheeks. The young man stepped backward on reflex and steam evaporating from his hair.

"And the mountain creatures mostly active from dust to dawn yoi, so you're more likely meet them before the sunset."

"You know about the lions already?"

"No, but I have some guesses. You sure you want to be involved in this yoi?"

"There's something wrong about that girl," Ace crossed his arms, "I can't let it alone."

"Alright, alright," Marco gestured to the map Ace was holding, "What did you find out?"

"This," the young man laid it on the table, "is the map of the town and the surrounding area. The red dots are where the locals were attacked last year." He pointed to a yellow spot, "This's where we encountered the three lions yesterday," then another spot, "And where the whole pack sieged us."

Marco squinted his eyes, the dots created a bizarre pattern, but they seemed to circle a certain area, "How about this one? The safe zone where the locals can pick the mushroom without afraid of being attacked?"

"Yup, there's no attack recorded there. We can't go in there without permission, but I think I can scout around. About a year ago, the mountainous creatures started to attack the civils as soon as they left the safe zones."

"That explains the lion pack on the first day. You want use yourself as a bait?"

"Uh, yeah. How else can we lure them out?"

"I doubt they'd come after your scared them off with your Conqueror Haki yoi. The villagers didn't do anything about the lions?"

"They reported to the sheriff, but it seemed like he'd never encountered any lions," Ace grimaced, "I think he may have something to do with it."  
Marco didn't comment. His eyes were suddenly distracted by an area on the map. It was quite near the safe zones yet had the least amount of red dots; maybe just a coincidence, but he kept the location in mind.

"How about we ask the guy and the girl himself yoi?"

"We? You coming with me? You don't want to sleep?"

"Speak for yourself," Marco chuckled, "I don't need much sleep, remember?"

"Okay then, wait here a second," the young man beamed, "I'll tell Cornie it's my shift."

Ace returned to his room as Marco picked up his shirt, but the commander stopped mid-track when he sensed Ace's movement froze in the hallway, the always vigorous presence suddenly faded away. Marco went to check, only to find the freckled man fell unconscious with his hand already on his room's door handle.

Marco sighed and raised his hand, preparing to knock on Ace's door, but Phoenix stopped him with a beguile whisper.

Cornelia didn't seem to be surprised when Marco opened the door. She was reading the newspapers.

"Let me guess, you manage to tuck my boss in your bed already?"

"His narcolepsy kicked in, and I just thought you may want some personal space yoi."

"How considerate," Cornelia smirked, "I'll take it he told you his plan. You want to leave today?"

"No," Marco deadpanned, "I'm going with him."

The female Spade burst out laughing, "I've never know Ace's so persuasive."

"You should take a rest too. You two don't have to take turns guarding me yoi."

"I can't. It's in our rule, written by Deuce and Skull, grammar checked by Mihar." She folded the newspapers, "At least one of us has to stay by our client's side. There's only two of us, so it's a bit tricky. Usually it's Ace and two other guys from the combat team who follow our client, not me."

"That's why you two argued?"

"Don't pretend you can't hear us, it's not very sound proof," Cornelia knocked on the wall, "I don't like him running around without sleeping, and I'm sure he had no bags under his eyes."

Marco shrugged, okay maybe he'd lied a little bit.

"Does he intervene the local problem a lot?"

"Hm," Cornelia hummed and the blonde man spotted a spark in her eyes, a mixture of nostalgia and adoration. "Except Deuce and Skull, the rest of us used to be a local problem that he interfered."

"Not very unexpected," Marco made an amusing snort.

"Spadille would need to be three times bigger if the people Ace helped decided to tag along his side like us," she pulled a small bag out of her pocket and grinned like a Cheshire cat, "Just in case something went wrong in my shift, I hope you'll take some of my candies with you."

Marco received the bags, it was filled with candies. They were red, shaped like strawberries and wrapped in nylon package. By look, there's no difference between them and fruit candies, but normal candies didn't make Phoenix cawed cautiously in his head. The blonde man sniffed the bag and asked.

"Is this an antidote for your poison yoi?"

"You found out already? Damn, day three, I lost the bet," Cornelia muttered as Marco raised an eyebrow at the word 'bet', "We're betting if you gonna guess my weapon right."

"You literally have an herb garden on the ship yoi, and you're always happy when we encounter the poisonous mushroom."

"It could mean I'm sucker for plantation."

"You aren't a fruit user. You paralyzed the lion and beat the sheriff without leaving external wound on both. Poison seems like a good explanation. Poisonous perfume to be exact."

"My," she tsked, "It took Deuce three days to figure it out."

"Though I have to say I've never seen anyone use perfume as their main weapon yoi."

"Well now you do," Cornelia snickered, "But they became useless when the enemy find out. Poison is more suitable for surprise attack."

"Why do you suddenly want me to take this yoi?"

"Because I'm in charge till Ace wake up. And rule number 2, we don't let our client fight, even if they can."

.

Cornelia's concern was unnecessary, nothing happened in her shift. It was quite amusing when Ace woke up and realized he wasn't in his room. The young man accidentally let out a curse and went tomato red. He got off the bed, apologized and thanked you very politely before making his way to the door and almost tumbled on his feet.

Marco tried so hard not to laugh.

The two easily asked for the way to the hospital and ran to the sheriff at the entrance. Bernard glimpsed around to check the innocents before focused entirely on them, one hand gripping his flintlock, the other signaling them to the hospital's backyard.

"What do you want?" Bernard sneered, not hiding his dissatisfaction.

"Did you kidnap the girl and place her in the forest?" Ace spoke up, Marco found this straightforwardness kind of cute.

"What?" The sheriff's face turned red as steam coming out from his nostril, "What do you mean I did?! That's supposed to be my question! How could she make it so far in the forest? Two days my ass, you forks were the only ones there at that time!"

Ace countered, "Weren't you too? I asked around, you had never be attacked by the creatures in the forest. How do you explain that?"

Marco caught something breaking in the guy's eyes, prominent lines appeared between his eyebrows as he clenched his jaw.

Suddenly the commander sensed someone coming their way.

"Ah, Sheriff, I knew it's you," A middle-age man interfered the confrontation, he had a large scar that looked like animal's bite on his hand, "Thank you for saving Nita, we're so worried about her."

"No worry, it's only my duty." Bernard muttered, a little stiff. His eyes avoided looking at the man directly.

"Please don't, Sheriff," the man held Bernard's hand and beamed, "You've helped us a lot over the years. Thank you for always keep an eyes on my daughter since the accident."

"…" Bernard downturned his head.

"She's awake an hour ago, now I'm gonna get her something to eat. Nita'd love to see you. Room 201. Please visit her if you can." The man chirped and gave the duo a curious peek before heading to the main road.

When the man was out of their sight, Marco waited no second turning himself to a flaming bird.

Both Ace and the sheriff stared at him eyes wide, the latter guy began pulling the trigger already. He looked at Ace in the eyes and made a soft coo, his wings spread wide as he soared toward the sky.

Behind him, heat radiated before a bullet missed his body.

It didn't take him long finding the girl's room, Nita was lying on her bed looking at the sky. He descended on the windowsill and gained back his human from, the same time placing a finger on his mouth to signal her to keep it quiet. The girl quickly covered her mouth.

"Hi, Nita right? I'm Marco. You remember me? Yesterday, in the forest?"

The girl nodded, her eyes wide opened.

The blonde commander put on his best smile.

By the time Bernard banged the door, Marco already got his answer. The girl head downturned, her eyes moist and her voice shaking.

"…Please don't hurt him, I saw him saving my father."

...

Under an oak tree in the dark forest sat an enormous beast. It curled into a fur ball, pointy ears perked up every time it noticed a fluttering sound. All the creature wished for was another peaceful day, but suddenly it heard someone coming its way. On instinct, it snapped upward and jumped into the bushes, its amber eyes opened wide as it silently waited for the intruders.

"Come out, kid. I know you're there." One human emerged from the dark, his eyes purposely looked at its direction.

The beast clenched its jaw, knowing it'd lost the surprising element. It knew this human, this black-hair man had easily forced the lion pack the night before, which mean it stood no chance if they confronted face-to-face. But it didn't have many choice right now, it needed to keep the humans away from the oak tree, therefore it made a loud roar and the dark canopies rustling to respond.

.

Marco sensed a large amount of wild animals heading their way, angry hisses echoing as the silhouettes lurking in the dark. Ace stomped his feet, a shockwave of Conqueror Haki rippled through the air and the atmosphere was immediately rendered to silence.

The first division commander licked his lips, he'd never tired of watching Ace demonstrating his power.

Their target, the creature in the bush yanked away when Ace's fire lightened up its hiding place. It dashed toward another bush, but a shot from Bernard stopped it mid-track. Ace clapped his hands and fiery sparks ignited from his finger, illuminating the whole area. Finally, they could take a better look at the beast's appearance. It was a big cat, in comparison with the lion pack they encountered in the first night, this one was relatively larger in size. It had a muscular body, its fur was a mixture of gold and black dots like a jaguar; the most distinguished feature was two long, curved saber-shaped canine teeth.

Marcos sat on a perch and hummed, he never expected to see an extinct animal like a saber-toothed cat. Consider it was wearing a pair of human's pants, he suspected the beast was rather a fruit user than a real animal, an Ancient Zoan devil fruit user. Phoenix's power crawled on his skin and created a pattern around his eye; another Zoan always intrigued both of them.

It was pretty clear the beast stood no chance against Ace. Sabertooth bared its teeth and ploughed the ground with it claws. The attack stirred up a cloud of dust that almost extinguish all of Ace's fire balls and camouflaged the beast on its run. Marco thought Ace would use his signature move "Fire Fist", but instead he transformed his feet to the elemental form. The young man sprang up, elegantly landed in front of the Sabertooth and snapped its neck with his arm. The beast let out a painful growl as Ace wrestled it against his shoulder.

"Return to your human form," The logia said and received a vengeful stare, "August, right? Nita told us about you."

Sabertooth made an acrimonious grumble before it charged at Ace again. The freckled dodged it with no difficulty and grabbed the beast in its neck. He repeated his command, this time filled his voice with a little Haki, and the creature subdued. It rolled on four and shifted its body. The furry figure shrank and cat-like features slowly disappeared, revealing a teenager boy couldn't be older than thirteen. He was quite good looking, a little scrawny, half-naked and the upper body was covered in scar. Marco squinted his eyes, scratches by animal's claws he assumed, most of them had healed but some were fairly fresh, like the boy had been attacked by wild animal continuously for a long time. His brown eyes filled with so much hatred and hurt it worried the commander because such negative emotion should not be related to a kid, yet Marco easily understood why.

Behind the boy's back was the Celestial Dragon's slave mark.

"I know you," Moral hollered, "You're the kid they found on the shore in West Ville two years ago."

The boy gritted his teeth and turned away.

"Why you little punk, why do you attack our villagers?" Bernard made an angry expression and the boy refused to look at him. The man then stepped forward and Ace gazed at him cautiously, but Bernerd's eyes went soft as he kneeled down until his and the boy's eyes were on the same level.

"You have to tell me kid. I'm an officer, I have to know if there's something wrong on the island."

August fidgeted and tilted his head lower.

"Tell me why," Bernard repeated, "I know there's a reason."

"…"

"Nita said you saved her father when he was attacked by the wild animals a year ago and you two became friend since then." The sheriff gestured at Marco and Ace, "That's why she agreed to trick me to the forest to get them out."

"…"

"She also said you have to do something against your will, and she believes you're a good person."

"…"

"So tell me, kid. Why do you have to do all of this?"

The boy let out a muttering curse as he turned to face Bernard. He was biting his lower lip so hard it bleed, tears welling up his eyes.

"…Just one more day," he whimpered, "Just one more day and I'll stop hurting everyone."

"Wha-?"

"If I don't guard here, they- they'll kill Ricus and his father."

"Ricus?"

"My-my brother, little brother. We lived in West Ville. Ricus and his father adopted me after I came to this island. The old man was a carter that transports mushroom from East Ville to West Ville. We followed him here one day. Ricus got lost in the forest and I used my power to find him. I-My power, the nobles, they gave me a strange fruit when I was much smaller-"

The boy hiccupped, in his dilating eyes were a mixture of fear and desperation, his hand shaking as he held himself.

"We accidentally find a white mushroom. Its smell is amazing, so we took it home. A friend of Ricus's father was there too, he asked us where we found it and told us not to tell anyone. One week later a group of men attacked us. I fought back, but they got Ricus and his father. They discovered my power and said if I don't guard this place for a year, he's gonna hurt them and reported me to the noble."

"That's why you attacked the villagers wandering around here?"

"Ye-Yes, I didn't mean to hurt them," August tilted his head downward, "Only to scare them away. But then the guy said I should also prevent people coming to other areas to avoid suspicion to this place."

"How can you control the mountain lions?"

"My power, I understand them to some extent," the boy looked at the surroundings where the wild animals still lurking in the dark, "They attacked me several times at first, one by one, and I defeated them. Since then they started to listen to me. I-I swear I told them only to scare people away."

"Stupid, why don't you come to the police?" Bernard scowled angrily, but his eyes remained gentle, maybe a little bit hurtful.

"How can I?" August made a sarcastic smile, "I'm not from here, Sheriff, and I'm a slave," Marco grimaced because the boy said "am", not "used to", "I know what my mark means. The guy caught me told me, the weird guys with the bubble around his head told me, then Ricus's father and the guy caught them also told me. I know you work for the nobles and I know my place in this world. You won't report me after discover my mark?"

"…" Bernard tsked.

"The guy, Ricus's father's friend, own a factory in West Ville. I tried to attack him but he already took them away. Ricus's been so nice to me and I want nothing more than him to be safe. Finally, after a year, they can return home. So please, Sheriff, and you two," the boy gave the duo a pleading look, "Just one more day. They will come tomorrow and leave us for good, and I won't attack anyone again."

Marco felt a foul taste in his mouth. One thing he knew for sure, those who laid their hand on a child did not keep their promise.

Bernard didn't reply immediately while Ace pursed his lips, silvery eyes turned cold.

"I promise, just one more day" August implored as he grabbed Bernard's shirt, his lips trembling as tears welling in his eyes, "Then never again. You can give me to the noble, but let me save them first."

Silence stretched uncomfortably, then to Marco's surprise, the sheriff patted the kid in his head.

"You little punk! Where the hell you got that self-sacrificing idea from?! Protecting people is my job!"

"That's what I'm doing! They got Ricus and-"

"And I protect you too idiot! You're no longer a slave! Having that mark didn't make you less than a human!" The sheriff took off his shirt and pulled it on August, "Not every one of us agree with those noble you know? That's why I and West Ville's sheriff left the marines in the first place. If you told us a year ago we could have less trouble, and you don't have to suffer all of this all by yourself."

His last words sounded like a murmur and he rubbed the boy's head. Tears burst out from August's eyes like water from a dam, but he pressed his lips tightly so all sound came out were sobbing and whimpering. His hand clutching the shirt, his shoulder was in a mix state of straightening and relaxing, a sign of trusting, yet also an attempt to make himself bigger in case he was betrayed. That gesture alone made Marco want to make a ruckus with the Celestial Dragons. Before Whitebeards became a big name and funded his island, the children on Sphinx Island, the old man's hometown, had the same attitude toward strangers being nice to them.

Yet the commander picked this emotional moment approach the oak tree. He was curious what kind of mushroom could made a man stab his friend in the back. Plus, taking hostage, laying low and waiting for a whole year, such patience wasn't something normal pirate would do.

It dangerously sounded more like the underworld.

Marco dug the ground and found the white mushroom, and he had to say they looked... hideous, like a vermicular taro covering in dirt, so unappealing he doubted it'd got anyone attention at first sight. Still he scratched the cover with his finger and took a sniff, then his lung was assaulted by the most wonderful aroma he'd ever experienced in life. It was so fresh and pure, like a green forest compressed with thousands of flower buds after a spring rain. For a quick second he even imagined seeing a rainbow hovering above the deep black sky.

"…" His power made an exciting singsong.

"Shush, Phoenix, shush."

Marco calmed the overhyped bird. He felt lucky he was turning his back to the other three now, which mean his expression was out of their sight. The commander was pretty sure his face just turned viciously greedy.

.

"You pirates have nothing to do with this."

In the middle of the night, a wagon moved to the port town West Ville at full speed.

"I'm not a pirate, I'm a deliveryman," Ace beamed, "Thank you again for lending us a ride."

Bernard didn't, he only told August to wait for him to get the wagon. In the meantime, Ace called for Cornelia. By the time the sheriff returned, the two Spades and Marco were ready to stow away.

"Mercenaries are no better than pirates!"

"It also mean we aren't on the same side with the noble."

The guy bared his teeth, he must wanted to bite back so hard, but couldn't find a way to counter yet, therefore he focus on dialing his Den-Den Mushi. The snail waited a few seconds before opening its eyes.

"West Ville's Sheriff here." A middle-age man's voice came from the snail.

"It's Bernard. I have something to-"

"Wait wait, East Ville needs help? Sorry Bernard, but we're kinda short-handed, two mercenaries group are fighting at the port. If it's an emergency, get the Marine Base, we can't support you right now."

Meanwhile, Cornelia gave Ace another Den-Den Mushi.

"Hey Ace, something wrong?"

"Hey Deuce," Ace took the snail from his teammate, "There's something I need you to do. There's a mushroom factory called Bovista in town, I want you to keep an eye on them."  
The snail's eyes dilated, "How bad are they?"

One more time Marco was impressed by the Spade's solidarity. Deuce assumed they had to take down a bad guy without any question.

"Kotatsu's capturer bad," Ace grimaced, "They're taking hostage of an eight-year-old boy named Ricus and his father and are in alliance with the underworld. Maybe the underworld will come tomorrow morning with the boy and his father onboard. We're heading to West Ville right now."

Suddenly the snail's expression turned… odd. The sound from the snail became a bit noisy as if Deuce just walked into a fight; Marco could even identified the sound of a bullet shoot and sword clashes.

"…Is that Ricus boy a curly gingerhead with brown eyes?"

"Yes, that's him!" August snapped forward, almost making the wagon fell over, his face as white as a sheet, "Something happened to him?!"

Ace quickly tapped on the wood three times. A very small gesture, not catching August or Bernard's attention at all, but Marco was sure Deuce could heard it at the other end of the line.

"He's fine, don't worry," Deuce answered, his voice much gentler and the chaotic background sound diminished, "The police's taking care of him and his father. They only have a few bruises on their limbs, none of them are serious."

"Really?" August's eyes sparkled, his body really relaxed as he sighed, "I'm so glad."

"Who's there, Bernard?" The snail on the sheriff's hand asked cautiously.

"I found our mysterious attacker, we're heading to West Ville but there's something we need to discuss."

"Fine then, we'll try to handle those punks here as fast as we can. And I need your help too, I can't handle this alone." The background sound of that snail also became messy, "An underworld organization had kidnapped two of our villagers for a whole year, can you believe that?! Those bastards are fighting with the Spade something, who are no better because they almost wreck the whole port!"

Ace glared at the snail on his hand with a very complicated expression. The snail, which was mimicking Deuce right now, bit it lip and said hesitantly.

"So… uh, I think we're in the middle of a fight with the underworld you said."

"Oh my god, is that Ace?! We're sorry Ace, we made a mess!" Skull hollered in the background, "It's Saber's fault!"

"Excuse me?!" Saber screeched.

"Get your head down idiots!" Another man yelled, whose voice Marco realized as Pinnacle, "Six guys on your right Aggie!" An explosion banged, then an angry shout came from both snail at the same time.

"What are you fucking punks doing with my town?"

The West Ville's sheriff hung up, but the noise of the battle ground could still be heard from the Spades' snail. Bernard flabbergasted, his mouth opened for so long Marco considered checking him up in case he had a muscle paralysis.

And Ace, Ace smirked, the same arrogant and cocky smirk that always made Phoenix flattered.

...

When the wagon reached West Ville, the fight was already over. A transporting ship at the port was torn apart, literally, there were so much holes on its body it wouldn't be back to the sea for a while. The harbor itself wasn't in a better state, the wharf looked like it just suffered from a hurricane and being flipped over. In a corner, a group of bulky dudes were bound together, all unconscious except for one guy Marco suspected to be the leader. He pressed his lips tightly as his bloodshot eyes stared at another man in a tuxedo suit.

Something was put on Marco's head.

"Wear this, it might be trouble if those guy know you're here right?"

Ace grinned and jumped off the wagon, Cornelia followed right behind him. They cheerfully high-fived each of their comrades.

Marco buttoned up his shirt before placing a hand on Ace's cowboy hat and pulled it down a little. He couldn't help curling his lips into a smile, a pleasant feeling was filling his heart. The commander would've enjoy it, if it wasn't for a bird rolling and blushing and making a mess in his head.

Tuxedo guy was so pale he could faint anytime. He was talking to a very scary-looking man in police outfit, his eyes wide-opened when he saw August and he immediately hid behind said officer. The boy didn't notice him, he asked for his family whereabouts instead and quickly dashed away

Turn out while they were confronting August in the forest, the Spade was having a party. According to Deuce, they got the things Marco needed and the provisions pretty quickly, so bam, partying. Saber had a drinking competition in a bar near the port, in which he victoriously won (his word, not Marco's), then the losing guys made a ruckus. Those guys were members of a transporting ship that usually came by the town. Thing soon escalated into a fight and the police enforcement had to get involved. When the drunk guys began firing cannon balls and bullets around, the Spade stepped in and it became a dogfight.

One guy yelled he worked for an Underworld Emperor in his drunken state.

During the fight, Kotatsu noticed something strange in the below floor and announced Deuce. They checked and found both Ricus and his father lying unconscious in a cell. The two Spades immediately brought them out and reported to the police.

"So that's what happened," Suillus, the West Ville's sheriff sighed, "All this time I thought Armill and his son decided to leave the island. Bovista's such a tricky bastard."

Bernard patted his colleague on the shoulder.

"What's it Bernard? What can make a man involve himself with the underworld?"

"I don't know, so does August," Bernard shrugged, "I've never seen those white mushroom before, but it does smell really good."

At that, Marco gripped his bag.

"And there's an Emperor's executive here," Suillus glared at Marco, "Doesn't matter now anyway, we have to figure out what to do with these guys. I don't know about those Spades, but I'm damn sure we should not mess with an Underworld Emperor."

"The Spades don't seem like bad people to me," Bernard said as his colleague made a sarcastic snort and gestured at the port, "And unlike pirates, the underworld don't like making it big, maybe they won't—"

"Sir," an officer hollered, "this guy said he'd called his boss and a fleet is coming this way!"

The gang leader let out a sadistic laugh and the tuxedo guy fell over, his face as white as a ghost.

"Fuck! Get me the snail!" Suillus yelled, "I'm calling the G-2!"

"Tell everyone not to leave their house!" Bernard shouted, "This is level 5 danger! Get yourself ready!"

Near Spadille, Ace said something and the others nodded. Skull and Mihar climbed on the crow's nest and the rest scattered with weapon on their hands. Marco jumped on the ship's topgallant yard and looked at the horizon. To be honest, he wasn't surprised about this sudden development. It's true the underworld preferred laying low than pirates like him, but seeing the mushroom already, he knew any underworld organization would willing to take the risk. Hell, he considered claiming this island under Whitebeard Pirates' protection already.

The fleet was nearer than he originally expected, only after a few minutes he already saw the small dots of light flowing at the horizon. Marco looked at the Ace, the young man seemed pretty calm, sitting on the figure's head with his shoulder relaxed. Consider he just took out a fleet single-handed two weeks ago, Marco was sure he would be fine if what's coming was a Paradise's fleet. Thing would be a bit trickier if the fleet came from New World, but it was too far for his Haki to foretell anything.

Out of his expectation, the faraway lights suddenly separated. Marco thought the enemies were divided to smaller divisions at first, but the lights' movement was really chaotic, like they was dancing a capricious tango in the air.

"Ace!" Skull cried out, "I think someone just torn the fleet in half!"

Ace ran to his comrade. At the same time the blonde commander felt a cold and powerful gaze piercing through his soul. His Observation Haki was on high alert and Phoenix was ready in its battle stance.

On the crow's nest, Skull paled as he gave Ace the telescope.

"It's Dracule Mihawk, one of the Shichibukai."

.

.

.

.

Since Chopper is a doctor and has a backpack full of medical supply, I suppose Marco has one too, with bandage and stuff. He heal, but still carrying it around in case something goes wrong.

The OCs' names are mushroom's names, in anyone wondering :

Quick summary:

Day 1:  
\- Come to the island  
\- Encounter three mountain lions  
\- Sieged by the lions, Ace using Conqueror Haki

Day 2:  
\- Afternoon: Find the golden chanterelle (mission accomplished)  
\- Meet Bernard the Sheriff  
\- Meet Nita  
\- Midnight: ran back to East Ville

Day 3:  
\- Morning: Ace's narcolepsy kicked in and the conversation with Cornelia  
\- Confront August in the forest  
\- Night: Get out of East Ville  
\- The Spades vs The underworld

Day 4:  
\- Early morning: meet up  
\- ?

I hope the timeline makes sense. Canon events always seem so rush to me. The whole Dressrosa arc, the longest arc ever, happened in a day. But the characters need to sleep and rest right? So I extended the incident to four days.

Okay maybe this whole incident is an excuse for me to write a chapter with both Marco and Mihawk (and Comil) :


	6. Mushroom Incident: 3

"You know anything about him?" Ace jumped off the crow's nest and landed by Marco's side, his eyes focused on the incoming ship. The calm aura surrounded him a few minutes ago was replaced by a cautious atmosphere. The police on the port became even more disordered since they found out the news. Except the two sheriffs, the rest couldn't manage to hold their weapon steadily. Marco couldn't blame them, Dracule Mihawk is a one-man army; in compare with an entire fleet, going against the man that single-handed wiped away said fleet would be more terrifying.

A snail on Bernard's hand said G-2 Marine Base was sending a fleet toward the island, but it was obvious the fleet could never make on time.

"Not much yoi, we're never run into each other. He's more active in Paradise when I spend most of my time in New World. From what I heard, he's very unpredictable, only doing what he wants and doesn't give a shit about the World Government's order."

"You think he want to fight you?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Marco sighed reluctantly, "He already knows I'm here, and his eyes never leave me since."

The commander could felt a cold and discreet gaze penetrating on his skin as if the man's eyesight was a physical force. Dracule Mihawk's epithet "Hawkeye" wasn't merely a joke about his eyes color, he was no doubt one of the most powerful Observation Haki users ever alive.

Ace hummed and stared at the horizon. Mihawk was close enough to observe with normal eyesight. The two candles on both edges of the ship glowed a dim and gloomy green light, only managed to illuminate the lower half of the man in the middle seat. With the addition of the crucifix-shape mast, the black ship looked exactly like a floating coffin that came to announce the death.

The ship got closer and closer and the gaze upon Marco didn't became any friendlier, which didn't really represent anything. Emperor and Shichibukai usually minded their own business instead of ruffling each other's feather. Why get yourself in a zero-sum battle when you can be a big fish in a small pond? A small spark between Emperor's crewmembers could mean war for both crew, therefore ignorance is bliss. His crew had a rule, if a member from another Emperor's crew could be seen, acted like they didn't exist, and they'd do just the same.

Sometimes small bickering like Yasopp and Vista happened, but it'd be considered as personal and had no relation with the crew.

However, Mihawk was a lonely wolf. Duel and crew-war had no differences to the man.

Marco wasn't mind a battle with Mihawk to be honest. After all, it was good knowing the true power of a candidate for an Emperor's position. The blonde commander wasn't overoptimistic; with his father's declining health, Whitebeard Pirates' era would be over someday. As the first mate, his job was preventing the day from coming for as long as possible.

His eyes averted to Ace. The freckled man could become a candidate too if he was a pirate and sharpened his ability a few more years. He had been nothing less than a gemstone waiting for its chance to shine.

Suddenly Marco felt the urge to ask.

"If he want to fight me, what will you do?"

"Fight him of course," Ace answered without hesitation, "I said I'm your bodyguard now."

"You're nowhere in that man's level yoi."

"So? You don't know unless you try. I have people I need to take care of."

At that, he casted his eyes downward to the Spades below. His silvery eyes sparked like a starlight, vivid and enchanting even though they were surrounded by the night. In Marco's body, his devil fruit power twitching to respond. It began from his chest, flowing firmly like an undercurrent till it spread all over his veins, tingling him right down to his bones.

He gave the cowboy's hat back to its rightful owner.

"Stay back yoi. If you get hurt, my power will be sad."

.

The officers formed a line with guns on their hands. Nominally, they cannot attack a Shichibukai since they were the Government Dogs, yet the two sheriffs still drew them up in battle formation in case they had to defend for their town. Ace retreated his team, leaving only him and Deuce behind.

The coffin-shape ship arrived and the man jumped on land. Marco sat on a barrel, waiting for the Shichibukai to make the first move. His scarlet eyes scanned around the port at first before landing on Marco.

"Phoenix."

"Hawkeye."

"Shanks told me a lot about you,"

They only met for five seconds and Marco had a headache already. Of all think he imagined Mihawk would say, the guy decided to bring up that annoying redhead. Still, he went with the flow, politeness is important.

"How is Red-Haired doing yoi?"

"Drunk, last time I saw him," the man drew his weapon, and Marco raised an eyebrow. Okay that escalated quicker than he thought, but the sooner the better. The giant sword gleamed a deadly ambience under the cool moon light, "Now, I'm no interested in why a Whitebeard Commander doing here, but I want to know if I'm at Whitebeard's level already."

Marco got off the barrel prepared himself. The man wanted to challenge his father, as if he'd let it happened.

"You won't mind a small fight, Phoenix?"

"You take no for an answer yoi?"

Mihawk replied by charging at him directly from the front. Marco cracked a smile, he could see the firmness in the swordman's eyes. It was filled with the will to learn and to evolve. Marco raised his leg and stopped the attack when it almost hit his head. The moment the blade and his sandal met, silence became deafening.

The attack was so strong his other leg sank a little to the ground below. For a brief moment Marco recalled the feeling of facing Shanks when they were cabin boys, then the devastating failure when he tried to stop Rayleigh for the first time. But he'd grew more since then, being worthy enough to stand by his father's side. It'd be a joke if he lost after the first move.

The clash became a contest to find out who had better Armament Haki and ended with a draw. Maybe an officer just fell down, but Marco had no time to check. He leaned to avoid a forewing from Mihawk then kicked the man in his abdomen, which he used his sword's hilt to block. The weight of his kick managed to send Mihawk backward a few millimeters, then the black hair man changed his sword's movement and sliced the fabric of Marco's shirt at the shoulder. The swordman charged again from below and Marco stepped on the sword, using his hand as leverage and aimed for the man's chin. They went back-and-forth for about a minute before their eyes met. A silence agreement was signed and they both jumped apart.

It was Mihawk who spoke first.

"Tell me, is your captain stronger than you?"

"You're twenty years early yoi."

Mihawk said nothing and put the black sword back to its place.

"What's your reason to be here?" Marco tilted his head to the shaking officers, implying that he wasn't asking for himself, but on behalf of them who were too afraid to say a thing.

"There's been a small rumor in the underworld lately, that's someone has found "Diamond in the Kitchen."

"Oh," Marco smiled, curious, "I thought it's been extinct for fifty years yoi. You're here for it?"

"I want something that get along well with my wine."

"Good luck to you then," Marco half-closed his eyes and looked at the two Spades. They nodded and the trio headed back to the ship.

When Marco walked pass Mihawk, the man had a blank expression. But when it came to Ace and Deuce's turn, he heard Mihawk murmured.

"I know that hat of yours."

He turned around and Deuce fell over right next to his feet. It was Ace who kicked the young man away as Mihawk placed his hand on his weapon.

Marco felt like blood just froze in his vein. A fire flower bloomed dazzlingly and heat intensified. The explosion was so big it stirred a cloud of dust and smoke. Two shadows jumped out from said cloud, one firmly landed on the ground and the other smashed to a wall.

"Don't you dare do that again yoi!"

Marco stood in between the two, his voice colder than he expected it to be. His leg turned to talons already and his arms were in flame. He didn't plan on using Phoenix in the previous fight since it'd be unfair against an opponent who didn't possess a devil fruit. He preferred using Phoenix in life-or-death battle, but he gave no shit about that right now.

In that one moment when the blade was so close to Ace, power rushed in his vein as he bolted forwards, yet he was a second too late. The only reason he was staring at Mihawk instead of healing Ace was his mind alerting him the man was still a threat, and he could sense Ace was alright. That steadied his heartbeat, however his power didn't have the same conclusion. Phoenix's aggressive emotion was getting on his nerves and Marco's afraid he wouldn't be able to keep his blood lust at bay for long.

Mihawk ignored him and focused on Ace instead.

"Not bad, he called you "a new era"."

Ace swiped the blood on his mouth.

"So you're testing me? But I'm afraid you mistake me for my younger brother," the young man smiled, "He's indeed the new era."

Mihawk raised an eyebrow, showing he was impressed.

"And where can I find him?"

"East Blue, but he's not sailing until he's seventeen, which is still a few months early."

"Thank you, sorry for the sudden attack."

The Shichibukai picked up his hat, the decorated plume and a part of the brim had turned to ash, yet he put it on his head and walked toward the village, not bothering to look back once.

"You're alright Ace?" Deuce pulled Ace out from the rubble and checked his wounds, he sighed in relief for finding no severe injuries.

"I want meat," the freckled man ticked his tongue out, "A lot of meat."

"Yeah yeah you'll have all the meat you want," Deuce wrapped Ace's arm around his shoulder, but Marco stopped him in mid-track.

"Let me check you wound," he said and already set his hand on flame before Ace could answered. The young man looked at him in the eyes before turning to Deuce, "I'm fine. Prepare to fix the port, we still own the locals that."

Deuce reluctantly accepted and returned to Spadille.

Marco began with the most serious wound, a slash ran across Ace's upper body. The cut wasn't deep, but it resulted in a horror sight and he disliked it. The rest were merely shallow cut due to the impact and the debris.

"That's enough Marco, you don't have to heal me," Ace jinked from his hand when the wound closed, "It's not that bad."

"Phoenix doesn't agree yoi," Marco hovered his flame on the other cuts.

"Tell Phoenix we're fine," Ace pouted and his hand burst a vibrant orange flame. The flame reached for Marco's hand and gently mingled with the azure color. It calmed Phoenix's emotion and also put Marco's heart at ease.

When the flame disappeared, Ace sprang up and stretched his muscles.

"See, all good. Now, you want to stay here for a day?"

"The police won't appreciate it yoi."

In the early morning of the fourth day, Piece of Spadille left Paladis and headed toward the next island.

.

"Those guys are monsters," Bernard exclaimed and sat down, feeling like ten years of living was taken away from his body.

"Luckily none of them are blood-thirsty, there's no way we can handle that," Suillus agreed, "The Shichibukai is still in the village, I'll see if I can do anything to make him leave as soon as possible."

"I'll take care of here," Bernard casted his eyes around the port. Fortunately for them, the Spades had repaired most part of the area before leaving. He had to admit they were extremely efficient. The harbor was ready for new ships once again. All he had to do was dealing with the unconscious underworlds and the man behind the attack in East Ville.

He suddenly found someone pulling his shirt. It was August, his expression was a mixture of uncertainty yet relief.

"Sheriff, I-I found this-s in my pocket, I don't know how it got there," the boy opened his palm, inside was a small shining stone, glittering as bright as the morning sun lighting the ocean at dawn.

"May I see it?" Bernard picked up the stone and examined it, his jaw almost dropped to the ground. He might be a bulky dude knowing nothing about jewelry, but he's still damn sure the small stone on his hand was diamond.

At the horizon, a fleet from G-2 Marine Base slowly appeared. From the port, the fleet looked like a force of justice emerging from the sun. Bernard squinted his eyes, he rubbed August's head and told the boy to hide in the deep forest.

.

After they got back on Spadille, Deuce forced Ace to the infirmary for further treatment while Marco returned to his room. Banshee was waiting at his door with a wide smile, on her hand was a box of wine.

"We think you've finished the drinks in your room."

Indeed he drank it all. He received the box with a thank you and placed the bottles carefully into the cabinet. He remembered a certain Freckles had said the first night after the team left an island was always his shift. Though consider Ace's condition, he shouldn't consume alcohol.

Then Marco grabbed his bag, got out of the room, knocked on Banshee's door and asked for permission to use the kitchen. She cheerfully agreed. He passed by the greenhouse to see Cornelia dealing with the newly-pick mushrooms. She guaranteed she could keep them fresh till they reached to New World. Marco wanted nothing more than that so he said thank you and left immediately to avoid disturbing her.

In the kitchen, he slowly washed his hand and gently wiped the dirt on the white mushrooms. The exquisite aroma soon filled in the air.

.

In the library, Deuce crossed the first item on the list, or to be exact, the first two items, "phoenix oyster" and "golden chanterelle". He hummed and stared at the list warily; since the moment he signed the contract with the Whitebeard's Commander, he already noticed this strangeness. The first line right next to [number one] only said "phoenix oyster", then "chanterelle" was a line below, stuck in between [number one] and [number two]. The words "chanterelle" were a little smaller in size than the rest of the list, a little messier too, as if it was added in a hurry.

How the two mushroom were found also worth consideration. After less than an hour since the crew anchored in West Ville, Deuce already got everything Marco asked for, he even considered coming to East Ville to lend Ace a hand. In comparison with "oyster", a mushroom that can be easily found in the market, "chanterelle" (which needed a trip to the forest) was such a pain in the ass. Plus, the underworld was on the island. Deuce couldn't help thinking it might not be a coincidence, and maybe Marco wanted something else beside the mushroom. The blonde man might be a nice guy, but he's still an Emperor's executive, there's no way he'd never involved in underworld and dirtied his hand.

"Still think about the mushroom?"

Deuce looked at the young man sitting at the opposite. Being covered in bandages, Ace looked less vigorous than he usually was. Maybe because of the loss against the Shichibukai too; even Deuce knew that the man had gone easy on Ace, otherwise Ace would never have time to kick him away.

Ace was sitting with his back toward the sunlight. It made his expression a bit colder, the shadow from the brim of the cowboy hat cut his face in half. From Deuce's perceptive, Ace's eyes, his nose and his outstanding freckles became one with the elusive darkness.

"Oh forget to take this down," Ace whined and put his hat away, his eyes vivid and lively as he poked the Den-Den Mushi on the table. The distant man from one second ago vanished without a trace like he's just a product of Deuce's imagination.

The blue-hair man curled his lips, two long years had passed already.

"Can't get it out of my head. Are you sure it's alright?"

"I trust Marco has nothing to do with the underworld or has any ill intention," The pissed off snail tried to bite Ace's finger and yelped miserably when his finger turned to flame.

"Your call then," Deuce said, "the next item would be love charms on an island called Elspie."

Ace raised an eyebrow, but he didn't make any comment. By the bookshelf, Skull shrieked as a book fell on his head. He stumblingly brought a book to the table.

"I know what "Diamond in the Kitchen" is!" The masked man cheered and pointed to a page on his book, "That's the nickname for white truffle, which is believed to be the best mushroom in the world. It's said to be extinct fifty years ago and was last seen on the island we just visited."

Consider Ace was pursing his lips, Deuce dared to say his captain was feeling amused.

The snail on the table rang, the back of its head slowly grew blonde and spiky hair. Ace picked the speaker up and a serious voice came from the shelled gastropod.

"Report, Spade."

.

"A-choo!"

"Bless you, Lily!"

"A-choo!"

"Bless you, Heather!"

"A-choo! A-choo! A-choo!"

"Bless you, Jasmine! Bless you, Iris! Bless you, Pansy!"

"A-choo!"

"Bless you too, Aster. Wait a minute, we're heading to a summer island. How the hell can you catch a cold?" Bluebell began to pale. "Oh god, get the doctor! It could be contagious! Where's Commander Marco? Wait, he isn't here! I'll told the helmsman to get us to the island faster!"

"Hold it right there," Head Nurse Aster patted on Bluebell's head using a stack of papers, "Don't cause unnecessary chaos. Now help me bring these to the Commander Jozu."

"But Aster," Bluebell whined, "you guys are sneezing at the same time. Commander Marco said we have to be careful with every single small symptom."

"Fine, we'll check, but with this," Aster grinned at her colleagues' giggles, "I'd say Commander Marco is on his way to get our requests."

"Huh?" Bluebell tilted her head in confusion.

"Remember when Commander Jozu kept laughing his ass off last month, or Commander Thatch almost sneezed his brain out a few days ago? That's the sign of Commander Marco's whereabouts."

"Oh?" Bluebell cheered, "Then he's going to get the love charms we asked for?"

"Very likely, can't wait to meet our prince charming," the two girls happily walked to the main deck and hollered, "Commander Jozu."

"Morning, Aster. Morning, Bluebell," Jozu received the papers from Aster, "How's Pops?"

"His numbers are stable, he's chatting with Commander Fossa. The guys injured in the fight last week can get out of the infirmary tonight," Aster lowered her voice, "And the girls are sneezing continuously."

"Oh," the paramecia curled his lips, "Marco must be after your request next."

"Which means he finished mine," Thatch joined in, "Can't for Birdie to come back."

"What did you asked for?" Jozu asked.

"Phoenix oyster. I'm gonna shape them like a pineapple and feed it too Birdie daily."

The Fourth Division Commander received a dozens of despising stares.

"What? Oh come on, I can't be the only one find it hilario-! Oack!"

"Yes, yes you are," Izou unfolded his fan, "Marco's so gonna dump you to the ocean, then his Phoenix will pick you up just to throw you overboard again."

"I thought you wished for a gold chandelier," Haruta chirped in.

"Golden chanterelle," Thatch rubbed the bump on his head, "but they can only be found in the forest and need special condition to preserve. There's no way he can bring them back without a fucking greenhouse. So I wrote phoenix oyster instead, which can be bought easily in the market."

"Aren't there chanterelle in the kitchen already?" said Izou.

"Yeah, but they're not as good as those on the island I ask Marco to come. The climate germinates the best mushroom in the world. Ten years ago, I went there trying to find white truffle, but ran into golden chanterelle instead. Too bad I can't bring them back to Moby Dick," suddenly Thatch snapped upward, "How do you know I want chanterelle? I don't remember telling anyone."

"Remember the New Year party four years ago, a month after I joined the crew?" Haruta wriggled his nose, "You were so drunk you refused to let me go and blabbing about your past nonstop. Marco had to bring you to your bed, yet you puked all over him!"

"Oh," Thatch inhaled deeply, "I don't remember that. No wonder he increased my division's chores every January since."

"Serve you right," Jozu snickered, "That sneaky bastard is the last person you want to mess with."

"Sneaky bastard?" Bluebell murmured before crying out loud, "Commander Marco is not a sneaky bastard! He's a real gentleman!"

The commanders stared at her eyes wide. The girl's face went tomato red as she covered her mouth and hid behind Aster. The older commanders, Jozu, Vista and Thatch, looked at each other before burst out laughing.

"Please, commanders. She's only here for more than a year," Aster sighed, "Of course she didn't see _it_."

"It?" Bluebell muttered, "What's it, Head Nurse? Am I-?"

Aster rubbed her head and smiled, "Nothing, but believe Commander Jozu when he says Commander Marco really is a sneaky bastard."

"What?" Bluebell flabbergasted, she couldn't believe the man that always nice toward someone as clumsy as her could have any relation with the word "sneaky bastard".

"Hey, explain," Haruta climbed on Jozu's shoulder, "Why do you call him "sneaky"? Marco always seemed like an honest guy to me."

"Marco? Honest?!" Blenheim walked on the main deck and almost tripped on his own foot, "Hahahahahahahaha! That guy is anything but honest!"

His voice was so loud it rippled all over the Moby Dick. Soon, except for the captain who couldn't hold his snicker in his room, the rest of the crew began to circle around the commanders. The curiosity in their eyes screamed the same message, "We want gossips about Commander Marco!"

"Oh, this's gonna be good," Izou smirked and rushed to the kitchen, grabbing his cup of tea and a bag of snack.

"Don't tell me you guys think Marco's a good and honest guy," Thatch sputtered in disbelief. Half of the crew nodded, while the older members huffed sarcastically.

"Can't blame them, he's less show-off in the past eight years," Vista twirling his mustache, "Of course the new recruits know nothing about _that Marco_."

The younger crewmembers looked at the Third Division Commander with pleading eyes, they all know the paramecia was the softest person on the crew.

"Fine, it's not a secret anyway," Jozu sighed, "I know this moment will come since the day he left anyway."

Bluebell held her breath, she couldn't imagine Commander Marco being cruel or mean or sneaky toward anyone.

"You know who's the most honest person on this ship?" Jozu pointed to Thatch, "Him."

The Fourth Division Commander nodded continuously, he raised a hand and his finger drew a cross shape on his chest.

The crew's expression could only be described as… complicated.

"But he's a womanizer," Bluebell gasped, "He flirts with everyone,"

"And everyone knows he's a womanizer so no one falls for him," Aster chuckled while Thatch looked like someone just stabbed him in his chest. Haruta laughed so hard he fell off Jozu's shoulder.

"Then what does it have to do with Commander Marco?" Someone hollered.

"Marco is the exactly opposite of Thatch," Blenheim snorted, "Everyone thinks he's an honest man, but he's the true bastard."

"Our blondie is very… adaptable," said Vista, "That's must be his most terrifying feature."

Jozu and Blenheim nodded in agreement.

"We don't understand, Commander Vista."

"Consider his position, you must think he's very consistent and always stick to the plan right?"

The younger members nodded.

"He's not, that guy's a flexible as hell, considering every single factor before he makes any move. As soon as someone outsmart his plan, he gets rid of it, learn from the failure and comes up with a new idea within the next second. You should see him in the early days of our crew, when war happened almost every day. No matter what the sea threw at us, he'd find a way to conquer it; changing tactic on daily basic, even changing the smaller goal so we'll get the best outcome in the end. In fact, he tricked Pops several times before he joined the crew."

"Isn't that supposed to be a good virtue?"

"Not when he lash it out on us," Blenheim continued, "He's always good at hiding his real intention. Unlike Thatch, who can only pull annoying but harmless pranks," Thatch held his chest and made a hurtful expression, "Marco's payback causes real damage, and he does it so well no one knows he's the real culprit unless he confesses."

"Some of you might tried pulling a prank on him right?"

Some crewmembers nodded.

"And he didn't say or do anything, so you think he didn't find out?"

They nodded again.

"Lie, he knows. If you had "embarrassing accident" once or twice while doing your chores, I guaranteed you that wasn't an accident."

"That's how he handle things, and why us older members never mess with him. Sneaky little bastard. So don't be fool by his welcoming charisma. We know his embarrassing stories, but that will follow us to our graves."

"And I bet he deprives pleasure from doing so too," Blenheim shrugged and averted his eyes to Thatch, "His position as Pops' right-hand required him to be calm and collected, he needed punching-bag to de-stress."

 _And someone volunteers to be said punching-bag_ was left unsaid.

The Fourth Division Commander curled his lips slightly, his smile was so vague only the fellow commanders noticed.

Meanwhile, the younger members swallowed hard, and Jozu laughed joyously.

"But he isn't petty. We're a family, he won't push it too far," The paramecia smirked, "And to be honest, I'm curious about what he'd bring back, because I damn sure Marco will get us more than the items on the list."

"True," Aster nodded, "He'll probably do more than we asked. If he accidentally finds a way to preserve the mushroom Commander Thatch wishes for, he'll definitely bring it back."

"Totally, for the best outcome," Vista snickered, "He's gonna take anything he considers useful to us. Who know, we may have a new brother."

Thatch fixed his hair, but what he's really doing was hiding his face behind the sleeves. He couldn't live it down if someone found out he missed Marco so bad his eyes teary.

Izou elegantly sipped his tea and thought about a small conversation he had with Madame Shirley the last time the crew visited Ryuuguu Kingdom. He, in one moment of curiosity, had asked if she could foretell about love life. Of course she couldn't divine all 500 crewmembers, so the fellow commanders were the first guinea pigs.

"I see Commander Marco talking to someone in Paradise," was all she said.

"Talking" wasn't the activity Izou'd expected, but he guessed good communication was the key for a long-lasting relationship.

.

Marco placed the bottle of truffle oil on the shelf, keep it in his room was a better option than put it in the storage with other items. Too bad the condition to preserve fresh truffle was too tricky, otherwise he'd asked Cornelia to keep them fresh, but she had the chanterelle to take care off already. White truffle was a pleasant surprise, so he was content with a small oil bottle. More importantly, maybe he could force a certain chief to do what he wanted with this.

"…" Phoenix announced that the News Coos were passing by.

Marco opened the window and put money into the bird's bag, it chirped cheerfully and gave him the newspapers. The blonde commander had a habit of reading news daily so that he would always catch up on big events. He even read the Gossip Column though he wasn't a fan of showbiz. A duchess of a certain kingdom was at the age of getting married, and she was looking for a worthy suitor.

Normally he wasn't interested in the life of a royal family, but the corner of her portrait caught his attention. Taking a closer look, he couldn't help the urge to laugh.

"See it, Phoenix?"

"…"

"Yeah, I shouldn't use him yoi," he paused before curling his lips, "but you know me."

.

" _Report, Spade."_

"That's not the right way to treat your information broker, Vice Admiral Comil," Ace beamed a cocky smirk that no doubt the snail at the end of the other line was mimicking him.

"Don't pull any trick, brat. I know that Marco the Phoenix is on your ship."

"He's our new client now, a real gentleman."

The young man looked at his chest, the wound due to the small clash with Dracule Mihawk had completely vanished.

"What does he want?"

"You know we protect our client's privacy."

A snort. "Say that to the guys you sold."

By reflex, Deuce casted his eyes toward a small stack of paper in the drawer, the wanted posters of the criminals they'd taken to the Marines for reward. He remembered the first pirate crew they defeated, who happened to be their client at that time. If it wasn't for that event, he'd never aware even Ace had a ruthless side.

"Is there any pirate crew you want to take down?" Six months since the establishment of Spade, on one night they were both on watch, Deuce finally asked the question stuck in his head.

Ace pursed his lips before answering, just like what he's doing right now.

"Nothing dangerous or shady, if that's what you're asking, and we stick with him 24/24."

"How's about his relation with Hawkeye?"

"Doesn't look like they're allies."

"And the underworld at the port?"

"High chance it's only coincidence. Whitebeard Pirates never stopped at the island as a crew. The only exception is the Fourth Division Commander passing by ten years ago. Doesn't know how long he stayed but seemed like he didn't do any big since no one remembered him."

"You know what they're after yet?"

"We have reason to believe it's white truffle, which may cost at least three hundred millions berries for a kilogram in the black market."

"No wonder," the snail huffed, "Instruction to get there?"

"You'll find a map in a barrel next to a house decorating with rose vine near the port."

"How many mushroom are there?"

"Approximately three kilograms? I'm not so sure, didn't dug them all out."

Maybe the real quantity was more than that, but Ace decided to keep this information for himself. He's pretty sure Marco had done something when the man turned his back to him, but all he could see was a blurry hand movement.

He also spotted Marco placed something in August's pocket right before the boy jumped off the wagon.

"Anything else?"

"Don't pursuit the missing boys, he used to be a slave." Ace's voice became colder, and the snail paused for a few seconds before continued.

"With the companion of Marco the Phoenix, I'm afraid I won't be able to cover you for a very long time. I had to report this to the Marine Headquarter that he's in alliance with "a mercenary group"."

"That's more enough, Vice Admiral. Thank you for your kind cooperation."

"Keep your eyes close on Marco the Phoenix, that man didn't become an Emperor's first mate for no reasons."

The snail was hung up. At the same time, Ace's Observation caught a steady movement toward the library. He tapped on the table, Skull nodded and took the book away while Deuce locked the drawer.

Marco knocked on the door and Ace put on his best smile.

"Come on in."

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"What's so funny, love?"

"Just remember the first time we met."

"Ah, great time," the man hugged his wife from behind and rested his chin on her head.

Rouge stopped cutting the rotten leaves and leaned against the man. The autumn breeze was a little cold, but with him being a shield, she was protected from the unpredictable weather of the equinox. Not that she needed it, but she liked the safety in his embrace. He'd always been this solid and trustworthy, even at time his enemies was too strong and powerful victory seemed like a daydream, even at the time his condition was so bad giving up was not even a choice, even at the time he found out she'd been lying to him since the moment they met.

The only time Rouge saw the man broke down, oh she'd never forget. For the very first time he became less incredible, yet more human and closer to her reach. She made a life-changing decision that day which she knew she'd never regretted.

"Uncle Garp once said," the woman snickered at the hateful expression on her husband's face, "that I'm just like my mother, we both have terrible taste for man."

"You have a wonderful taste for man," he tightened his embrace.

"Do I?" She turned around and received a kiss on her freckled cheek, "Let's hope our son also has a great taste for his significant other."

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And that's the wrap for the first item :

Vice Admiral Comil is the commander of G-2, he appeared in Ace's cover story, when Ace delivered Moda's message to a Marine Base. He was at Marineford too. Consider he didn't pursuit Ace, he might be a believer of Moral Justice.

Because in this headcanon Ace is a mercenary, I want him to have some "shady" connections :


	7. Will of Fire: 1

Thank you for your support in the previous chapters ^^

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Sometimes, when Ace looked at the sky, he wished he could return to the meadows of his childhood.

His family lived in a small house at the edge of a forest, a bit isolating from the nearby village. Ace liked running on top of the hills and marveled at the sight below, a glorious expanse of vibrant flowers. He enjoyed playing hide-and-seek in the grass, chasing wild rabbits and befriending deer. In autumn, he usually went kite flying. His favorite activity was tying the string to a branch and lied lazily under a tree, watching the air-craft balanced itself in the sky. Ace always wished for a day he could fly. In winter, he built snowmen in the front yard and felt so proud with the three snow figures standing side by side.

There weren't many children in the village, and most of them weren't allowed to go too far, which mean if Ace wanted to play, he had to get to town. He preferred the deer more than the children; they were nice, but couldn't catch up with him on his daily journey in the forest. Still, having human friends is nice, so he came to town with his mother on every weekend. He liked a giant hamburger that only sold in the morning and he always took two, one for him and one for his dad.

His father never came to the village. The man only gardened around their house, taking care of his mother's flowers so she could sell them in exchange for food. His mother said his father was sick. Ace knew what sick was. Sick was bad. He remembered the headache haunting him for days after he soaked in the snow for too long, leaving him paralyzed on the bed. What kind of sick his father had must be really bad, because Ace always saw the man coughing. His father liked to embrace his mother from behind and whispered in her ears, then she would response by intertwined their hands and laid a kiss on his hair. She did that with Ace a lot too.

When his father wasn't busy with the plant, he joined in Ace's escapades, teaching him how to throw a proper punch and doing the 'cool' stunts, most of which ended up pissing his mother off. The man also like walking up to the cliff, humming a cheerful melody and stared at the blue ocean till the light drained from the sky.

"The song is called Binks' Sake. Come here Ace. Let me tell you about the day I fought a giant."

Sea King was as big as a mountain, his father said. Ace had no idea how a man could defeat such a monster, but he trusted everything his father said. The man was a great storyteller, and his stories were always about a world Ace'd never seen before, a world of fantasy, where people could fly and there were giants and mermaids and shape-shifters and dragons.

The ocean was as deep as the sky. Not once did Ace have a vague feeling they could merge into one.

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When he was four, he learned that his mother was 'beautiful'. A strange man called her so when they were in town. He didn't understand what 'beautiful' mean, but it must be good, because his mother responded the man with a joyous smile. The man said he liked seeing his mother, Ace liked seeing his mother too.

"A man called Ma 'beautiful'. Is it good Dad?" Ace asked, pulling his father's hair. He enjoyed sitting on the man's shoulder and being carried along the seashore.

"Huh?" His father made an amusing snort, "Of course it is. Your mother is the most beautiful woman I've ever met."

"He seems to like Mom. He shows up and talks to Mom every time we're in town. Is it good too?"

His father hummed. Ace waited patiently, but it seemed his father had no intention to answer, so he averted his eyes to the sky instead. Today the sky was ugly, a mixture of ashen gray and lurid purple. Among the grayish clouds Ace spotted a bird soaring freely like it dominated the sky.

The hands holding his legs suddenly became tighter.

"Maybe. Is he a good man?"

"The villagers like him. He sells pumpkins."

"Must be a good man then," his father laughed, "Now let's get home before Rouge get worried."

His father began to run and Ace tightened his grip to prevent himself from falling. The wind rushing by his ears, and when they were only a few feet away from their home, he heard his father whispered softly.

"…Both of you are my selfish wish."

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At six, Ace found his first companion. One day, when he was helping his mother with the groceries, a silhouette whisked past him, stealing a piece of meat from his bag. Ace immediately ran after the figure, only to lose it in a dark corner. Irritated, he spent the entire next week tracking the sneaky cat and finally found it in a small alley. An aggressive shriek caught his attention at first, sharp noises of fighting echoed in the walls, then three dogs ran out of the alley, injured and miserable like they just had a fight for their lives.

Ace walked in, finding a cocoa cat licking its claws triumphantly on a dumpster. Its body had more scar than fur, yet its eyes clear and shine. The creature gave him a boring look at first, but when Ace slowly approached, its eyes turned cautious. It let out a warning hiss, body hunched and tail up high.

Ace cracked his knuckles, wanting to teach the meat-stealer a lesson. The cat padded forward, striking from above. With a swipe of a paw, it aimed for his face. Ace leaned to avoid it but he still lost a few strands of his hair. After the creature landed, it turned around elegantly, snapped upward again and be ready for another strike.

The fight wasn't one of Ace's glorious moment. The cat was extremely fast, much faster than the deer he'd been familiar with. It managed to scratch his face several times. When Ace tried to grab it, he always missed in the last second. After realizing it had no chance of scaring Ace away, the cat ran away, using the shadow as shelter when it dashed between the alleys. The small confrontation soon became a competition of speed and stamina.

At the end of the day Ace got his hand on the naughty creature. His father burst out laughing after he saw the result clinging on his face and his mother chuckling non-stop. They welcomed the new member with ease.

"What do you want to call him?"

"Striker."

After their small quarrel, Striker seemed to acknowledge Ace as its rightful human. The cat, maybe for living as a stray for so long, rarely flinched no matter what noise was going on. When it did, it was either go big or go home. That personality made Striker Ace's perfect partner in crime. The feline followed Ace on his journey, keeping him out of danger by watching his back. If Ace asked if it wanted to go for a ride, Striker would always bolted to the front door and waited for him. They went mountain climbing, rabbit hunting, fishing, even poking a bear just to run their ass. Sometimes the little dipshit dared to climb on his head, which usually ended up with another fight. The advent of Striker had turned Ace's life to a more joyful page.

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When Ace was seven, he saw wanted posters for the first time. They had the picture of 'criminal', or as the children in the village said, 'bad guys that need to be caught'. The number on the papers were called 'bounty'. The higher the number, the more dangerous the man in the picture, the more necessary for him to be put in jail.

"Who has the highest bounty?"

Ace asked and received a picture dangerously resembled his father. The only different feature was the man had a very prominent black mustache while he father didn't.

"Who is he?"

"Gold Roger, the Pirate King," The oldest kid said, "He's been missing for eight years, no one knows if he's alive or not."

"How about his family? He has to have a family somewhere right?"

"I heard that he's an orphan."

"He doesn't have a wife?"

"Huh, I never thought about this. Maybe, it's said he's welcomed by women around the world."

"Does he have children?"

"I don't know, but if he did, the kid must be very unlucky."

"Yeah yeah, super unlucky," Another kid joined in, "So many people gonna go after him."

"Why's that?" Ace felt the urge to make a statement, "His kid has nothing to do with his doing."

"Because they may end up being a criminal too. It's better if we nip them in the bud. Besides, Gold Roger had a lot of enemies. Those guys definitely want to lay their hand on his kid. For their own sake, I do hope his child should never be born."

Chill running down Ace's spine. Something told him he just discovered a shocking secret, so he excused himself and rushed to home. After listening to his question, his parents looked at each other and asked him to take a seat. His mother brought him a cup of honey tea, a drink she said could calm people's heart.

"I intend to wait for at least two more years," she rubbed his head, her eyes sad and guilty, "Your real name is Gol D. Ace."

Ace learned that somewhere out of the sea, there were people holding hatred toward him merely for his blood. Striker curled on his lap. They sat silently on the roof till the dawn came.

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Ace easily asked about the 'Missing Pirate King' since none of the villagers had ever seen his father. The stories he received were so distressed to the point he ashamed of who he was. 'A demon', they called the man, 'a dangerous existence' that should be kept away from the civilians. All of them agreed someone like Roger should not have a child, and it made Ace frustrated. He refused to hear his father's stories and spent more time in the forest with Striker. Looking at his own reflection in the river, Ace began to question his existence. Did anyone else welcome his birth beside his parents? Were there really people wanting him dead? Would he end up being like his father, a criminal?

Ace picked a rock and threw it at his image on the water surface. He had his mother's freckles, but inheriting silvery eyes and black hair from his father. He was indignant being born as the man's son, yet he couldn't come to hate his father. For all Ace remembered, the man was nothing less than nice. No matter what he did, his father always welcomed him with a goofy smile. When Ace wanted to try something new, he only needed to look behind to find the man cheering and encouraging him. The man's presence alone made he felt safe, and there was no way he could come to hate that. How could he come to hate that?

The newly reformed reflection stared back at him, uncertain and irresolute. Deep down Ace wanted his family to remain happy like they always were. Yet now he learned more about the world, the dream became so vague it could easily slip through his hand.

Suddenly, Ace was so afraid of the unknown future ahead.

"Ma, tell me more about the world."

He asked when his father was in the garden taking care of the new buds.

"About you and dad, about things I've never known."

Ace later learned that for this life to be living with him and his father, his mother had abandoned her past. She was once a Marine, a soldier of justice who supposed to put his father in jail, but she chose him instead of her vow. She showed Ace a picture of her childhood, the one she took with his grandparents, two people he would never have a chance to meet. Then she told him a story about a girl who longed for vengeance so bad her vision was clouded by hatred. Outside of this peaceful village, there was a world where war is a daily basic and the stronger made the rules. Friendship and love became the most valuable treasure.

"Not every pirate is bad, and not every marine is good Ace. Good and bad isn't like black and white," she poured him another cup of honey tea, "If you want to know more about the adventures, go ask your father."

The door clicked and his father came in.

"Oh, Ace, you're back so soon?" The man beamed, waving the bouquet of yellow tulips on his hand, "Look, very beautiful right? They're ready to be sold."

Ace, for the first time, had the urge to protect something with his life.

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'Real pirate' was as bad as the children said. A wrecked ship docked at the island one day, then strange guys got off and rampaged the town. Women and children locked themselves in the houses, while the men prepared the weapons to fight back. Curious, Ace sneaked after them and hid behind a barrel when the men clashed. One man fell on the barrel and revealed his hiding place. A pirate grabbed his shoulder and put a sword on his throat.

"Oh, you're quite good looking kid. May worth a bit in the black market."

His mother just told him about the 'black market' the day before, where people traded illegal things, including humans. One of many wrongness of the world, she said, but currently Ace was interested in something else. He swallowed and raised his voice.

"What do you think about the Pirate King?"

Because real pirates were different from normal villagers right?

"Want to be a pirate?" The guy laughed, "Too early for you punk!"

"What's that over there?" Another guy exclaimed.

"Oh this brat right here wants to know about Gold Roger."

"Oh really? Must be another pirate wanna-be. Let me tell you about Roger, that guy is -! -! -!"

"Yeah yeah, also -! -! -!"

"And and -! -! -!

Bad words were spat like venoms, stinging in Ace's heart. He clenched his fist and asked again.

"What about his family?"

"Oh yeah, there are rumors he left piracy for a woman. In that case I want to ¬¬¬¬- with the wife. Serve her right for being involved with that man!"

"And if he had a child I will -. Gonna worth a lot in the auction, and he will be -. That kid gonna pray _it_ has never be born."

-!

Ace grabbed the man hand and twisted it with all his strength. The guy shrieked as he threw him over his shoulder and smashed against another guy.

"What the-!"

Ace slammed his fist in the third man's face and stomped on his chest. Power rushing in his vein, and his anger desired to be lashed out. Ace kicked the fourth guy in his stomach, then punched in the man's ribs as hard as he could. A painful growling rang as blood spattered on his shirt. Ace took the guy's weapon, a metal club, stopped another guy's sword, and swung the club in his head. The guy yelped and fell down miserably while Ace went for another strike in his abdomen.

Suddenly he heard a sharp click.

-!

Ace turned around and his eyes went wide. For a brief second, time seemed to stop and the only sound ringing in his ears was dead silence. Striker froze in mid-air, then its body slowly descended to the ground, unmoving. The blood kept pouring out from its small body soon reddened his vision.

All Ace saw was red.

"Ace, Ace, Ace! That's enough!"

Someone held Ace's in his shoulder and pulled him back, but he didn't conform till he kicked a guy one last time. A pair of hands cupped his face.

"You're alright Ace? Do you hurt anywhere? How about you back? Did they—Ace, Ace, are you listening to me?"

Ace shuddered and broke out of his stupor. What he saw first was his mother's worried face. 'Damn I worried her', he thought, but his body couldn't move. His gaze got cleared and clearer before he was able to avert his eyes around. The unconscious pirates overlying on each other like a pile of drag dolls. Ace looked at his hands, they were red. Blood dripped from his fingers, fell on the ground and bloomed a scarlet flower. He had to take a step back to regain his vision, and his memory clicked. He turned aside and found Striker's motionless body. Ace rushed to the cat, his hand hesitated to touch the bloody cocoa fur. The soft breathing ringing in his ears sounded like an imagination, while the redness on Striker's chest looked too surreal.

The cat opened its eyes and looked at him. Its mouth opened, but no word came out.

His mother told the mayor she'd take care of the pirates. Ace didn't know what she did, but he never saw the men again. Since then, the children seemed to be more cautious around him, but he didn't mind that. All he could think about was Striker and how weak he was.

Striker survived, but losing a leg in the back. The cat could no longer follow Ace on his escapades. The fun wasn't the same without Striker. Ace spent more time at home taking care of the cat and it seemed to ease Striker at first. But as the days passed, it began to act grumpy toward him, hissing and crawling whenever he gave it food. Ace believed he deserved it, so he went with Striker's fuss, till the day the cat refused to eat.

"What's the matter Strike?"

Ace asked worryingly, and the cat replied with a hoarse purr. Striker got off its bed and stumbled it way to the entrance. Ace tried to stop it, but it crawled him hard every time he offered his hand. After they reached the door, the cat look at Ace and tilted its head.

'I want to go outside', Ace read the cat's expression.

"No Striker, you have to-"

Striker patted its tail to his face.

"But you're still injured and it's too-"

Another pat.

"I'm telling you it's very dange—"

Another pat and a bite on his hand.

Striker made a smug expression when Ace became silent, its eyes crystal-clear like the day they first met. The cat tilted its head again and meowed, patiently waited for him. Ace cracked a smile and gently stroke it fur.

"You're right. Let's go outside."

Ace asked his parents for serious training, something more than the camping, rabbit hunt and stamina run he usually did. The fight with the pirates made him realize he was too weak, and he needed to be stronger to protect those he cared about. His parents became his guides, teaching everything they knew, from duel technique to proper survival skills.  
Striker usually sat on a rock watching him. When Ace went on a run, the cat dug it claws into his shoulder and stabilized itself behind his back. Striker's companion made moving more difficult, but also taught him to be more careful of behind attacks. The day of flying kite was replaced by climbing waterfall and animal wrestling. By the time Ace was eight, he'd managed to hunt a bison on his own.

A call in the middle of the night made his mother pale. She urged them to pack and they left the island at the very same night.

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The first morning Ace woke up on a ship, everything felt so right. He opened his eyes at the endless blue. Salty breeze vibrated rhythmically with the pounding of the waves. The golden rays of light shone onto the water surface, making it dazzle like millions of jewels. The sea was exactly like he'd imagine it to be, calm and enchanting and full of promises. Seagull soared freely overhead, carried by the ocean wind. Never before had Ace's eyes been able to wonder so far into the horizon.

His father seemed to be happier. He sat at the fore of the ship, humming Binks' Sake in a more cheerful tune. His mother showed him a map and said they were heading to a place call 'East Blue'. To get there, they'd have to pass 'Grand Line', the most dangerous ocean current of the world, commonly referred to as the 'Pirate Graveyard'.

"We met there Ace. Maybe you'll meet your significant other there too," his father laughed, "But we have to cross the Calm Belt first. Remember the giant monsters I told you about?"

Their lunch and breakfast that day was a 'Lord of the Coast'. Its mouth was big enough to devour their ship in one gulp. The moment the eel-like creature emerged from the water surface and bare its teeth, Ace was so shock he could barely move. 'Will I die today?', he thought to himself, then his mind snapped and he unsheathed his dagger. He wouldn't give up without a fight.

His mother chuckled. She jumped upward and punched the creature on its forehead. It couldn't even shriek, simply went motionless and fell off. His mother easily tied its corpse to the ship, and they didn't have to worry about meat for the next two weeks.

The ocean became more raging when they came closer to Grand Line. The waves rose as great as mountains. Their ship riding up and down the swelling sea like a child's toy. The cloud was dark and unyielding, while the gale screeched a piercing cry before slamming the ship with full force. Ace hold Striker firmly on his chest, stumbling left and right to keep himself balance. He could go in the cabin, but he refused to run away from hard circumstances. At a result, he almost fell out of the ship if it wasn't for his father caught him on time. The man laughed and held him on his chest, then came standing behind his mother and bended downward to shield her from the rain. His mother steered the wheel fiercely and their ship barely escaped a massive tidal wave.

Ace was secured between his parents, feeling so small in comparison to them and the great ocean.

The storm didn't last long, they soon reached a more peaceful water. Ace looked behind and stunned to see the storm still raging viciously while on their side there wasn't even a breeze. The sky was so clear and serene Ace thought the storm was just a dream.

"Come come Ace," his father threw him a paddle, "There's no wind here so row with our hands."

Ace sensed something following them from beneath the surface, so he leaned over the railing and took a closer look at the current beneath.

The creature stared back at him, cautious and vigilant. Its eye alone bigger than the ship.

It made 'Lord of the Coast' looked like a tiny worm.

Ace fell on the ground, his knee felt weak and his mind being overwhelmed.

"Breathe, Ace," his mother soothed, "It's okay. They won't hurt us."

'They', his brain focused and he leaned over the railing again. This time not seeing one, but at least five different enormous creatures eyeing their ship with curiosity.

Ace grasped the paddle and began to row. He needed to be stronger. He knew too little about the world.

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The Grand Line welcomed them with a pirate ship.

Even from afar Ace could hear the men onboard badmouthing his mother and threatening them to lend money. He clenched his weapon in prepare for a deadly fight. On the other hand, his parents looked relatively calm. His father made a delightful smirk when his mother stood up after finishing her cup of tea.

"Ace, will you bring me a cannon ball?"

"But Ma, we don't have cannon," Ace protested, but got in the cabin and brought the cannon balls nonetheless. He had no idea why the ship had these ball onboard.

"No problem," his mother picked the balls up and juggled them like they were toys, "Let me teach you a very cool trick."

She stepped one foot backward and slightly bended her knee. Then she brought the ball back, making an elegant movement as she released the ball. It pierced a tunnel from the front to the back of the enemy's ship. The men onboard went silent and their jaws all dropped to the ground.

She threw another ball and this time it hit the main cast in the middle, broking it into halves. As the spar fell off, it also dragged the other masts down.

The men stampeded like a flock of sheep in front of a wolf. One man, who Ace guessed was the captain, shouted angrily, and the cannons were aimed at their small ship. A cannon ball flying straight to their way.

His mother replied with a devious smirk. She jumped onward gently tapped on the ball, yet the small contact was enough to divert the ball's direction. It went back to where it came from, the cannon barrel, exploded and caught a chain reaction that almost tore the enemy ship apart.

Ace's eyes wide opened. His father had a prideful grin on his face as he rubbed Ace's head.

"Very awesome right? That's your mother."

His family spent the next weeks wandering on the waves and Ace had to admit he liked this life, full of adventures for not knowing what might come ahead. Sea Kings and pirates happened, but none of them could cause a scratch on their ship. Sometimes he joined the fight by dealing with the underlings. They gave him a hard time, yet taught him endurance and reflex. A few months after their departure Ace already felt himself being much stronger.

When they ported to get provisions, either one of his parents would come with him to town. Ace got to ask more people for their opinion about the Pirate King, and most of them came up with the same response: it's a great thing such a notorious man disappeared, and if he had a child, the kid was fated of an unlucky life. Ace despised the answer, but he knew more than lashing his anger. They came across the Marines a few times, mostly when the men were on mission to capture a pirate in town. His mother liked to stand not very far away, watching them taking action. Ace would sat by her side, learning everything he could from observing a real battle.

The closer they reached to East Blue, to Ace's distress, the frailer Striker became. He already knew this day would come when he noticed Striker's cocoa fur turning grayer day by day. The wound on its leg, though now healed, still caused damaging effect to its health. Striker's once clear eyes were now half-lidded, and the grip on his shoulder getting weaker and weaker. The cat remained unflinching to potential danger, but Ace doubted it was because of its scarred childhood like it used to be.

One day, Ace was woken up by a small tongue licking his face. He opened his eyes to find Striker staring at him, its eyes shone like a star on a summer night sky. For a brief second Ace recalled the nights lying carelessly with Striker on the new grass on the top of the hill, watching the Milky Way under the cool breeze. It was only a few years ago, but he felt like ages had passed, and a clock counting backward was ticking on his head.

Ace hugged Striker, the cat's heart pounded in a steady rhythm. He took a deep breath and placed the cat behind his back. Striker's claws dug on his shoulder as always, gripping so hard they stung his skin. Ace felt something wet dripping on his shoulder, but he ignored it and headed outside. They both knew this was their last pleasure trip as a pair.

"Let's go outside."

They were on a summer island in its summer time, so there were no grass, no trees and no rabbits. Flowers were replaced by cacti, and cool breeze was replaced with sandstorm. Ace run on sand dunes instead of greenery hills, then soaked his feet into a shallow pond instead of a refreshing river. He managed to find a tree on top of a cliff. It was dead, the withering branches as black as charcoal. They sat by the root, Striker curling on his lap and together they watched the light drained from the sky. The sunset on this island was tangerine mix with magenta shade, majestic in its own unique way. Striker kept purring until the last ray of gold vanished. Ace bit his lip, his hand kept brushing the cocoa fur until the cat became one with the eternity.

He walked along the seashore and laid Striker's body into the water. He could buried the cat, sure, but Ace knew his friend hated being locked in a small hole. As the sky fell and darkness blanketed the great ocean, Striker was nowhere to be seen. The waves gently padded his feet like a mother soothing her child.

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In comparison with South Blue and Grand Line, East Blue was extremely serene. They travelled for weeks without facing any Sea King, and the pirates were relatively weaker. Ace had hoped their journey would remain safe and sound till the end, until they came across an intimidating pirate ship. It had a fierce-looking figure head, a two-horn red serpent with its mouth wide opened. The Jolly Roger was a realistic skull, two red stripes crossed skull's left eye socket, with a pair of crossed sabers behind instead of bones.

Since the moment Ace spotted the ship, he already knew he was nowhere near its level. By instinct, he turned to his parents. Their expressions were serious, but they showed no intention to change their course; therefore Ace grimaced and gripped his weapon harder, preparing himself for the worst as the ship got closer and closer.

He didn't expect when the two ships finally directly faced each other, his fighting spirit suddenly vanished. The urge to giving up overwhelmed his mind.

It was the coldness that pierced him to his bones, as if his heart was a door left wide open to the icy wind. His feet were cold and his hand was weak. He'd never wanted to give up so badly in his life. Pressure weighted against his shoulders, forcing him to kneel down and succumb. 'Just an illusion', Ace reminded himself, but the task of keeping himself conscious getting harder and harder as the seconds went by. Then everything just stopped and he could breathe normally again.

Cool sweat sliding along his spine. Ace casted his eyes upward and found a silhouette standing on the red serpent. The figure shifted, then a man suddenly stood right in front of his father.

"Long time no see, Cap'!" The red-haired man chirped, "You too Rouge, and…" Their eyes met and the man's eyes went wide opened, "Holly shit! There's a kid?! Shit, shit, shit. Why don't you tell me Cap'?! You alright buddy?"

"Ace," his father picked Ace up and pulled his cheeks, "A perfect copy of me and Rouge right?"

"Sure is. Luckily he has freckles instead of mustache."

"He's eight, of course he doesn't have mustache. Long time no see Shanks," his mother beamed, then chopped both men on their heads, "How many times did I tell you two not to use Conqueror recklessly?!"

"Sorry, Rouge," they both muttered.

His mother checked him up and down, and after being sure he was still conscious, she looked pleased and extremely proud. Ace didn't know why, but the coldness earlier must be a tough challenge that he'd manage to overcome.

His father put his arm around the man's shoulder and grinned amusingly, "I hear that you're an Emperor now. Great job, kiddo! Now tell me how—"

His hand froze when he touched the man's left shoulder, and his mother covered her mouth in shock.

"Now this is a surprise," his father snickered, "Who did you give it to?"

"Not just this, but your hat too," The man held his empty sleeve, his face soft and full of adoration, "I gave them to the New Era."

Ace learned that the red-haired man, Shanks, was once a cabin boy on his father's ship. After the dismissal of Roger Pirate, the man formed his own crew and managed to make a name for himself. 'The New Emperor', people called him, one of the rulers of the sea. Shanks was also the one contacted his mother a few months ago.

After a quick introduction, his family boarded the man's ship. His mother asked him to behave before all three of them got in the cabin. Ace knew he wasn't smart enough to understand his parents' problem. Whatever they had to discuss, it must be important, so he nodded and played with the crewmembers. They were strong, especially the first mate. Ace only managed to shock the man for the first few seconds before he collected himself and blocked all of Ace's attack. Ace tried wrestling, which he won none, then he tried sword fight, which ended up with the same result. Ace lost miserably, but no one laughed at him, even told him that he had so much potential.

When his parents got back to the main deck, their expression were even guiltier than the day his name was revealed.

.

Ace followed his mother up a mountain path. This jungle was far more dangerous than the forest of his childhood: higher trees, more poisonous plants and more carnivores. A tiger patiently followed them along their way, only ceased when a bear tried to assault it from behind.

They stopped in front of a house on the top of the mountain. His mother knocked on the door.

The door slammed open. A masculine woman with curly orange hair prepared to yell at them, but her movement stiffened when she looked at his mother.

"Hibiscus! What do you want? I thought we have a deal!"

"Long time no see, Dadan. We do, but I come for having a favor to ask."

"A favor? Yeah right, as if I can say no. You're as vicious as that old man Garp! What is it this time?"

"I want you to take care of my son. His name is Gol D. Ace."

"Oh you have a son?" Dadan gave him a glare, her eyes full of amusement, "Cute, good for you. Why do I-," Suddenly she turned pale and almost stripped on her foot, "Gol D.?! GOL?! You don't mean-?"

His mother nodded and the woman exasperated.

"Of course you do, you Monkeys are insane!"

"Please take care of him for about a year."

"Oh no no no no no," Dadan came closer, saliva almost spat on his face as she pointed to him, "Absolutely not. I'm not gonna handle the son of the devil!"

Ace flinched and clenched his fist, ready to punch the woman in her face. His mother hold his hand and shook her head, then she turned to the woman, her voice as clear as thunder.

"Neither of my husband and my son are devils, and I'm afraid you have no say in this. I may no longer a Marine, but we both know what I can do."

Since then, Ace began to stay at the bandits' hideout. Alone.

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I hope you don't mind a chapter about Ace's past. Since I twist the canon, I think the story need a chapter depicting his thrive to sailing, yet not as a pirate, but a mercenary. (Also to prevent myself from accidentally using deus ex machina in future plot).

Stick to canon events as much as I can. I mean we still don't know why Shanks came to Foosha twelve years ago.


	8. Will of Fire: 2

Thanks for your lovely support in the past months, I really appreciate it ^^

This update is a bit late. I'm so sorry there're too many things I want to include but cannot fit them into overall plot. Then writing block hit like a wrecking ball and I kept staring at a blank page for months.

Hope you enjoy the new chapter ^^

I used a bit of MasterQwertster's wonderful translation of One Piece Novel A. You can find out more about the begining of Spade Pirate from Deuce's point of view. Please support her!

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After making sure his mother had left for good, the bandits forced Ace to stay still in a corner before they figured out what to do to him. Not that Ace wanted to obey them, he had no idea why his mother trusted a group of mountain bandits, but she must have her reason, so he waited patiently till they finished arguing about his life as if he wasn't there. In the end, they came up with the decision that he'd stayed behind when they were out for 'businesses'. Consider they were bandits, Ace doubted their daily habits were anything legal.

"Don't mess around, and don't blow our businesses", Dadan threated, then she led a group of men out, leaving him behind with a sleepy-looking dog.

Of course Ace ignored her completely and ransacked the place. He found nothing useful except a barrel of rice and a few rusted swords. The place was more of a rundown than he'd expected, the pipes in the bathroom almost fell out already, but on overview, it was decent place to sleep. In the evening, the bandits returned with a bag of food and set the campfire. A short man got in the kitchen and brought him a small tray.

"This is all I have?" Ace looked at a bowl of rice and a glass of water on the tray, then averted his gaze to the pile of meat next to Dadan.

"For a day. If you want more, work for us, or go fetch your own food."

"Are you sure it's alright?" A chicken-like man whispered in her ear, his voice a little too 'quiet', "He's Hibiscus and the Pirate King's son."

"Then he should be able to take care of himself!"

Ace finished his portion in silence. When the night came, he got a thin cloth that called a 'blanket', and he got to sleep alone in a storage room. In the middle of the night, he opened his eyes due to hearing the door being opened. Secretly gripped his dagger, Ace pretended he was still asleep. By looking at the silhouette on the wall, he knew it was Dadan. She just stood at the door watching him and let out a sigh, then she dragged something into his room and left.

The newly-lit brazier radiated a cozy heat, and Ace slowly dozed off, feeling the bandits weren't so bad after all.

Dadan really kept her words. In the next morning, she woke him up using a loud bang and ordered him to clean the house. At the end of the day, he received another bowl of rice plus a tiny piece of meat. Ace knew there's no way he would be full if this kept going on, so on the third day, he sneaked after the bandits and learned the way to Goa Kingdom. From the mountain, Goa seemed to be a luxurious country, surrounded by a high wall that isolated it from the rest of the island.

On his way back, a snake tried to attack him from behind, but Ace dodged in time and pierced his weapon in its head. The reptile tasted richer than those in his hometown, and Ace couldn't wait to get used to the new life. It would be interesting, if only Striker was here to watch his back.

His portion was reduce to half that day for not finish the chores.

On the fourth day, Ace followed the men again and knew the way to the river. The stream was guarded by enormous alligators. One of them spotted him sitting on a tree, but it simply averted its gaze, probably because he wasn't worth for its stomach. All the alligators did was lying around, yet when another creatures came near the water, they attacked with dangerously high accuracy. Ace watched in astonishment as the reptiles dragged a bull under the water surface. The poor animal could only made desperate shriek before the river turned red.

"The strong makes the rule Ace," his mother once said, "If you aren't strong enough, you don't even have the chance to choose."  
The sixth day, Ace found a suspension bridge leading him to the other side of the mountain. The carnivores on this side were even more tyrant, but also due to their sizes, they didn't dare to cross the bridge. Fortunate enough, because Ace almost got himself killed when he accidentally walked in a tiger's territory.

The seventh day, Ace was surprised to see the bandits didn't go outside like they usually did. Except for Dadan and her two trusted subordinates, the rest were unconscious, lying around in weird positions, a result of yesterday's party, which Ace wasn't allowed to join. Dadan's eyebrows perked up when their eyes met, and her nose wriggled as he moved toward the door. Ace guessed she must be frustrated, because he hadn't done the chores for days. The chicken man grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.

"Where do you think you're going? Stay and do the housework."

Ace simply grasped the man's wrist and threw his away. The man made a painful shriek as he hit the ground.

Dadan huffed, but she didn't look surprised at all.

"Of course you can do that, both of your parents are Ds after all. You can do anything you like boy. Just don't die!"

Though her words caused an ignorant impression, Ace noticed the two men stalking him from behind. When he purposely hid in a bush, they got panic and ran back screaming he was in danger. When he showed up again, they continued to follow him around. The bandits weren't nice people, but they certainly weren't so bad. Just like his mother said, there was thing wasn't black or white.

But it didn't mean he liked them. His sadistic side was pleased when they freaked out for losing him for the fifth time in a day.

Ace's targets were small herbivores at first, rabbits and birds; then he slowly moved to bigger preys. Living alone was not as difficult as he thought, he'd been trained for this. Nonetheless, the bandits provided him a place to sleep, so he didn't have to worry about the cold at night. Two weeks since Ace came to the Dadan family, he was capable of repaying the bandits with a deer.

On the thirtieth day, Ace discovered a place called Gray Terminal.

Located right outside the wall of Goa Kingdom, the place was a massive junkyard filled with unwanted goods, the residents walked lifelessly as if they were ghouls. Ace stared at the gate. His mind automatically connected him and the place, both being an outcast. He didn't expect to find anything useful really, the smell as he walked deeper was even worse, junks piling up mountain-high, but he wanted to try his luck. Ace kept wandering aimlessly until a blond boy ran into him. 'Crash into' would be a more accurate description, because the impact was so strong they both felt off the ground.

"You! Who the hell are you?!"

The kid shrieked. He wore a cravat and a large top hat, both of which looked ridiculously incompatible in a desolate and daunting area.

"And who are you?!"

Ace retorted and pushed the stranger off. Blond Kid didn't seem to mind though, he was busy looking behind. From around them came angry footsteps. The kid picked a water pipe up and grabbed Ace's wrist.

"Run!"

Ace grimaced, "Why should I listen to you?"

Blond Kid exasperated, "Because they're coming!"

-!

A man descended from above and swung a sword at Blond Kid. Ace, in reflex, kicked the kid afar, so the kid fell down and narrowly missed the attack. The kid let out a curse before spinning his weapon and hit the guy in his stomach. Just at the moment the guy kneeled down, a group of armed men emerged from the junk heaps and circled the two.

"So you're the blond monkey keep stealing our money!" One guy grumbled, "Oh, and you have a friend. Don't you think you can get out of here unharmed."

To Ace's surprise, the kid's shoulder began to quiver. His head downturned in a very formal manner as he stepped forward, standing between Ace and the men.

"I'm terribly sorry for this misunderstanding. Please forgive me. I promise I'd never do it again."

The guys burst out laughing and made rude comments, while the leader patted the kid hard on his head. His hat fell off and he almost tripped down, yet he smiled goofily and continued to ask for mercy. Ace furrowed at the kid's sudden cowardice, then it dawned upon him when one man revealed a skull tattoo on his bicep.

Pirate. They weren't normal gangsters. But pirates.

The leader offered his hand and Blond Kid began searching in his pocket. Ace carefully evaluate the situation, then for a brief second, the air seemed to stop, causing his muscles tensed on instinct. He clenched his fist and stared at the other kid. The guys were still laughing. In a blink of an eye, the kid sprang forward and kicked the leader in his throat. He quickly picked up a water pipe and swung it so hard Ace could heard the guy's neck cracking.

"Run!" The kid said, his back turning to Ace, "Follow the tunnel there and run to the right. You should get out of here within five minutes."

One of the man tried to punch the kid, but he dodged easily and countered the man with a punch. Unlike Ace who liked to rely on his speed and physical strength, the kid's attacks were slower, but trickier; each of them accurately hit the vital area and knocked out his opponents in a blow. Still the men outnumbered the kid, and soon he was at disadvantage. A guy unsheathed his sword and approached Blond Kid from behind.

It was then Ace decided to step in. He grabbed the guy's shirt and threw him to another man. The kid waited no second striking his pipe and knocked both of them down. He gave Ace a skeptical look, and Ace replied with a smirk. Silently, an alliance was established. Leaning their backs against each other, they made a quick introduction.

"Sabo."

"Ace."

"I handle that side and you take the rest?"

"Deal."

The fight was exhilarating. Sabo was a skilful with his attacks, wielding and spinning his pipe as if it was a part of his body. It compensates perfectly with Ace's blunter and more direct strikes. Even though they just met, their moves harmonized as if they were long lost friends. Ace felt like every fiber of his being was vibrating with anticipation, and adrenaline was courting through his veins. He didn't know how long did it last, but at the very end, the two of them was the only one standing straight.

When Ace was about to punch the leader one more time, Sabo pulled him back.

"Don't! More are coming. We have to go now!"

Ace followed the newfound stranger till they got out of Grey Terminal, passing the gate and came into the city. In comparison with Gray Terminal, the city was much lively, people dressed properly and spoke in formal manner. Sabo led him to a valley, digging water bottle out of nowhere and threw it to him.

"That was close!" Sabo smiled, "You're strong. Where do you learn to punch?"

"My mom taught me."

Ace answered, not missing how Sabo's shoulders stiffened. The blond boy pulled his hat lowered and turned away.

"Good for you then. That was fun, but we probably shouldn't do it again. Go home now before your parents got worried."

Ace frowned at the reminder of his parents, he didn't hear anything from them for a month; but before he could said a thing, Sabo already continued.

"Don't know how to get back? I can show you the way. It's still early, we have an hour before sunset."

"My house is not here-"

"Oh, really?" Sabo made a sarcastic huff, "Sorry then. Of course you don't live in Grey Terminal. I've never seen you before. Look, I don't know why you don't want to go home, but you should get back and forget this. That place is not for children."

Ace made a face.

"I'm ten already."

"You're still a child!"

"Then how old are you?"

"I'm ten too."

"Then what are you doing here?!"

"I'm not like you!"

Somehow the small spatting ended up with their fists. It took Ace a handful to punching and wrestling to pin Sabo to the ground, and even then, the blond boy never stopped resisting or using dirty move to get out of his grip. They kept going back and forth until the color drained out of the sky and both fell down, neither of them being able to move.

"Okay, let's start again," the kid offered at last, too tired to make a proper sentence, "I'm Sabo."

"Ace."

"I live in Grey Terminal."

"I live in the forest."

"Don't lie. The forest is full of dangerous beasts."

"I live with the mountain bandits. The animals aren't that hard if you know their habits.

"You must be joking right?"

"You'll get used to it. But hey can we lie here for a while? I don't really feel like moving now."

"Me too. Have nothing to do anyway. But tell me about the forest tomorrow?"

"Sure."

On the sky above, the moon hung full and hazy beneath an eclipse of blazing stars, carrying a nostalgic echo. Ace felt a light pinch on his shoulder. His mind wandered back to the days he first met Striker, then he glanced at Sabo. Sabo was busy staring at the sky, his brown eyes reflected the sparkling of the stars above.

Ace couldn't read the boy's expression, but he hoped Sabo would be interested in him as much as he was interested in Sabo.

….

Sabo had been living in Grey Terminal for five years. He mugged for a living and never went further than the suspension bridge, therefore agreed to teach Ace about Goa Kingdom in exchange for knowledge about the forest. When Ace was alone, he wandered in High Wall collecting information about his family. It was easier than he expected, because his father's name was all over the news. 'The Great Hunt for the Pirate King', the tittle said. He let out a relief sigh when the article said the government lost his father in East Blue, yet it was also stated that they wouldn't give up soon.

One thing Ace learned in the months crossing the Grand Line was the underground information network, things that weren't displayed on the news. In a foreign land, his only chance getting close to it was through the pirates. From teacher-student relationship, Ace soon became Sabo's partner in crime. Sabo held a strong attentiveness toward piracy. Except for the treasure, they also collected as much books and documents as they could. One book, 'Brag Men', got Sabo's interest so greatly for weeks he never let it out of his reach. Ace was annoyed at first, because Sabo rather finished one more chapter than went hunting with him. Yet as Sabo reached the very end of the book, he became less and less talkative. The quietness got on Ace's nerves even more and he finally snapped.

"Okay, what's it?"

"What what?"

"What's been bothering you?"

"Nothing?"

"Yeah right. What's it in the book?"

"Brag Men? You want to read it?"

"No, I want to know why you keep your head down the whole time."

Sabo wore a struggling expression, biting his lips and tsking and biting his lips again. Then he looked directly into Ace's eyes, his voice slightly shaking.

"Can I show you something?"

Sabo led Ace to a tall tree where he opened a secret compartment engraved in a branch. The compartment was filled with money and jewelries.

"This is my treasure."

"So you've been collecting them eh?" Ace picked up a necklace from the mug they committed last week, "Why you suddenly want me to know?"

"Because I want to be a pirate!"

Ace fidgeted and slowly put the necklace back into its place.

"Really? You know what it means being a pirate?"

"Be free. To do what I want anywhere I want."

Ace tried to keep his expression normal, because he wanted to smirk so bad.

"Also being a criminal hated by the world and endangered your loved one."

Otherwise, why his family had to run away in the middle of the night? Why did he have to leave his hometown? And there were the hateful comments the villagers and pirates once said. He could oppress his tantrum now, but it didn't mean the scar stopped stinging.

"Yeah, that," Sabo put off his hat and scratched his hair, "Don't worry. The closest person I got in years is you."

"…"

"I… I always thought I can do it alone, that's why I'm collecting money and getting myself ready. But there's a chapter in here," Sabo opened the book, "A chapter about a lonely man on the verge of dying, wishing nothing more than to hold the hand of someone, anyone. Because at the moment he closes his eyes, his dreams, no matter how great it is, will vanish from this world."

"…"

"I guess I don't want to end up like him."

"…"

"The last few weeks, you're here," Their eyes met again, "I know we're not that close, but I want you to know. In case… I don't make it," Sabo downturned his head, then he clenched his fist and looked at Ace's directly in the eyes, "My dream is still alive."

"…"

"That's it. That's what I want to say. Sorry to bother you. Let's go for another hunt?"

"…"

"Ace?"

 _Remember this Ace. Inherited Will, the Destiny of the Age, and the Dreams of its People. These are things that will not be stopped. As long as people continue to pursue the meaning of freedom, these things will never cease to be!_

Ace pursed his lips. He had an idiot for a father, now he had an idiot for a friend.

Swallowing hard, he made a decision.

"That's, you're wrong. Your dream doesn't die when you close your eyes. It doesn't depend on anyone but you. Your dream dies when you fail to pursue it."

"Uh, okay?"

"If you want to know about piracy that much, I can tell you what Grand Line looks like."

"Don't lie," Sabo made a face, "How could you come to 'The Pirate Graveyard'?"

"Because I'm the Pirate King's son."

Silence stretched and a falling leaf could stun their ears. Ace eyed Sabo's reaction cautiously, but the blond boy did nothing more than staring and raising his eyebrows.

"And?"

"You don't surprise at all?"

"No wonder you keep asking the pirates about the man. Now, is there anything in the Grand Line that I need to know?"

Sabo got shocked after hearing about the Sea Kings and decided they needed to take training more serious. They spent less time in Grey Terminal and more time in the forest, capturing bigger preys to hone their fighting skills.

"Wait and see Ace. Ten years from now I'd be one of the greatest explorer this world has ever had. Then you can be my hostage," Sabo's eyes sparkled, "That way you're not a criminal but you can still go to the sea."

"You want me to do the chores don't you?"

Ace'd never thought about sailing seriously because he wanted to follow neither of his parents' path. But when he saw the brilliant spark in Sabo's eyes, he recalled the first time waking up on the sea. Salty breeze vibrated rhythmically with the pounding of the waves. The golden rays of light shone onto the water surface, making it dazzle like millions of jewels.

The thought of sailing but not as a pirate or marine captivated him. Maybe there was still a chance for him after all.

"But seriously, Sabo. What do you think about the Pirate King's son?"

"I think… It's unfair judging someone sorely based on their parents."

Together, they promised to set sail at the age of seventeen.

….

"I'm going to be the King of the Pirate!"

One day, after returning from a hunt, Ace saw Dadan yelling at an old man and a kid.

"Your grandson?! First your niece and now you?! I bet this kid is another stubborn brat!"

"Rouge was here?" The old man sneered, "I know that red-haired wasn't here for anything good!"

"Don't badmouth Shanks!"

The kid retorted, and the man hit him on his head.

"Don't idolize that guy! Dadan, how's Rouge? What does she want?"

Dadan made a scoffed and simply pointed to him. The man turned around and his jaw dropped to the ground.

"You- you're—"

"Ace," Ace proudly said. If he recalled his mother's stories right, the man right here had raised his mother, and the same time being one of his father's biggest enemy.

The man's facial muscles twisted, blood vessels popping out on his forehead. The corner of the man's lips curled up and Ace leaped on reflex. The tree he was leaning against crumbled to dust.

"Oh? She taught you well didn't she?" The man smirked, "You'll become a great marine."

Though it was embarrassing to admit, Ace already knew he would lose before the fight even begin. From the man radiated a fierce and overwhelming aura that cause all his blood cells in preparation for war.

Truth to be told, Ace lost miserably. The man cheerfully pinched his cheeks like he was some kind of stuffed animal. 'Taking care of your cousin' was the man's last words before he walked away, not bother to look back once.

"I'm going to be the King of the Pirate!"

Luffy repeated for the nth time. Ace grimaced at the new kid, his 'supposed' cousin. Only less than a day since the kid got to the mountain and he already got on Ace's nerve. Every time he opened his mouth, it was either about his dream or his food. Unlike Sabo, who only wished to see to world, the kid was very specific at becoming the next 'Pirate King'. Ace could understand Sabo's yearn for freedom, but he couldn't get the kid's obsession with said status. He'd seen how the world treated 'Pirate King', and he wished no one and their loved ones had to suffer the same things. His first instinct was to cast Luffy out, proving the kid that he was too weak to be on top of the world, but Luffy patiently followed him like a tail. No matter which tactic Ace used, Luffy always managed to come out stronger and fiercer.

"You know, you can always stay at my place," Sabo suggested.

"No need, I'll cut that kid anytime soon."

'Anytime' turned out to be 'never', Ace'd failed miserably. After two months of non-stop stalking, Luffy was no longer a tail running behind his back, but a cheerful little brother standing by his and Sabo's side.

" _If you exchange cups, it makes you brothers. No matter what we are or what we do… this bond will never be broken!"_

Though Ace didn't like drinking, he had a habit of carrying three cups and a bottle of sake in his bag. When the weather was warm, he enjoyed walking along the seashore, where the waves would gently pound his feet and rhyme nostalgic laughter.

Their promise under the golden twilight was so real back then, then suddenly it dissolved into foam and vanished at dawn break. Ace remembered the day as if it was only yesterday. He once sat by Sabo's side under a broken shelter in Grey Terminal, looking at High Wall and be jealous of its luminous light, then on that fateful night, Grey Terminal was brighter than the sun. Inferno pierced through the sky, dying the cloud in red and burned a part of his heart to ash.

Ace remembered being tied against a tree and cried at the very top of his lungs, and the bandits only let him go when he no longer had energy to sob. When he casted his eyes above, he saw the same magenta shade of the day Striker left him behind. He kneeled down, face in his hands and he could really see the dreams he yearned for slipping through his fingers. There he goes again, being so weak he couldn't protect the one he loved. Tiredness crashed in and suddenly Ace wanted to give up on this world. All that years of training yet he still remained at the very starting line.

A hoarse sob struck Ace out of his stupor. He headed up to search for the source and saw a wooden board with white drawing mark, the one Sabo made to determine who was the strongest between the three of them. Bitterness seethed in his heart, but at the same time dawned his mind.

Three. Ace repeated the number. He still had another brother.

Ace ran to the cliff and found his youngest brother curling painfully, tears kept flowing from his eyes. Ace bit his lips and ran back into the forest, where he picked random preys in attempt to lash out every bit of his distress. Ace knew he needed to do this fast, so that when he stood by Luffy's side again, he could be the trustworthy and reliable older brother.

"Listen to me, Luffy!

Luffy stopped crying and looked at him. Ace smiled and tried to ignore the clenching in his heart.

"We have to live our lives, so we don't have any regret!"

Sabo said he would leave the land when he's seventeen, and Ace would fulfil that dream.

….

At age seventeen, Ace left Goa Kingdom. The journey was peaceful for two weeks before he was caught in a thunderstorm. His boat was torn in half and he barely made it to an island nearby. Ace thought this was his luck at first, but soon he realized there was nothing to eat on this deserted land. His only way out was to make a raft and get out as soon as possible, yet none of his attempt survived the furious waves.

Ace didn't expect to have a companion on the island though. On his sixth day, while collecting materials for another try, he found a blue-hair stranger sitting under a pear tree. The thought of having someone to talk to lightened his mood, so he got closer to say hi. The guy nodded and nodded but didn't bat an eye at him, too busy talking to a skeleton instead. Ace felt bad for interrupting the farewell moment between a man and his comrade, therefore he offered.

"We could at least make a grave. I'll help too."

"A grave? Let's do it."

The stranger answered, lifeless. He stumbled getting himself up and Ace noticed a small notebook on the ground. Together under the hot blazing sun, they silent built a memorial on the sand until the guy suddenly shrieked.

"Who the hell are you?!"

That was weird. He'd thought the guy noticed him.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Ace."

The stranger turned out to be just like him, whose luck being swiped away by the waves. Wearing a black mask, the guy refused to say his name, therefore Ace called him Deuce. Deuce had left his hometown in order to achieve his dream, being a famous writer and write freely about wonders of the world.

It was also Sabo's dream.

Because of that, Ace was ready to call the guy 'friend'.

"I don't really want a bounty. I want a normal adventure, that's all."

Deuce acclaimed, and damn if that didn't remind Ace of his best friend. Ace smiled sheepishly and said.

"You care about your family."

"What?"

"You didn't want to cause them trouble. Am I right or what?"

"I don't like them! I dislike them! In fact, I hate them! That's why I'm out of here!"

Ace noticed a bit shaking in Deuce's voice, but he decided not to comment on that.

"Is that so? I was sure I was right on that…"

"That's…. not the case…"

Deuce muttered, so Ace changed the topic.

"Speaking of family, I have a little brother. We aren't related by blood, but he's still my brother. He's noisy like a monkey, but being away from him and going on my own like this, it's quite lonely."

Ace began to talk about Luffy. Talking about Luffy always made his heart at peace. He finished a silly story when he saved Luffy from one of his idiotic stun, expecting lightened the atmosphere, but when he looked at Deuce, the guy was clenching his fist. Finally, Deuce snapped upward and spat.

"Good for you! Why did you come here? Why don't you go back with your little brother?"

"…"

"You have somewhere to return to, a great little brother related not by blood but by heart. You're a disgustingly happy bastard! You surely have a loving mom and dad that anxiously waiting for you to return. You're damn well-blessed!"

"Yeah," Ace arched his eyebrow, feeling anger accumulating. He'd been nothing but nice and he was being yelled at? "So what?"

Was this guy competing unluckiness?

"Your childhood must be great right?" Deuce exasperated, "I bet your father took you downtown on the weekends and your mother liked to brag about you with her friends. Your existence must be very welcomed."

His father never took him to town nor his mother even have a friend.

"The only thing my father said to me is 'Don't embarrass me'! My mother doesn't talk to me! My older brother doesn't look at me! How can someone with happy childhood like you understand?"

"Happy…" Ace muttered, the words of the hateful pirate so long ago echoed in his ears. The green meadows of his early years become so vivid in his mind before they were burned down by the inferno in Grey Terminal, "…My father was a criminal."

"Does he love you or not? He does right? Then why making such a sour face?"

Because there were moments he was tired of running. Because there were moments he wondered why he was left behind. Because there were moments he dreamed his parents would never came back, because there were moment he felt overwhelmed taking Sabo's place. Because…

"You're right," Ace curled his lips, the pain stuck on his throat, "I guess I just being self-conscious."

Then the question crashed in, coming out quicker than he expected.

"Hey, what do you think if Roger had a son?"

Ace pitied himself for still being hurt by it after all this years.

The guy shot him a suspicious look, and Ace replied with a grin.

"Just kidding. But being a notorious pirate doesn't mean being a bad parent."

They parted and Ace began searching for material again. Life must hate him so much, because after meeting the stranger, he began to hallucinate. Every time he closed his eyes, he found himself being seized by fire. Sometimes the fire trapped him in a raging maze, sometimes it glowed hazily around him like fireflies. Strangely, no matter in what form, the fire never endangered him, he couldn't even feel the heat. If he focused enough, he could hear the crackling sound of wood and the fragrance of smoke from his childhood. Before that great fire, his skin glowed gold and his heart was at ease.

 _Find me._

The fire whispered.

Ace repelled the voice. The end of Grey Terminal was fresh in his mind. Fire, he couldn't get closer to fire. It was fire that took one of his brothers away, and almost took the other too if Dadan wasn't right on time.

Fire. That night he was too weak.

 _Find me._

Ace tried to keep himself awake, and the voice started to affect him in daylight. The lack of sleep added more pressure on his health and his stamina withered day by day. He rushed blindly, even tried crossing the currents with bare hand, but all attempt ended up in vain.

Maybe this world had no place for him after all.

Ace sprawled on the sand and made a sarcastic snort, his body too tired to move, and the idea of a good sleep didn't sound so bad. Sure he would probably hear the strange voice again, but at least sleeping stopped him from thinking about his weakness. He didn't mind what the world think of him really, but the promise he made with his brothers was still undone. The taste of sake was too real on his tongue, bitter and sweet and brought tears to his eyes.

Ace noticed something nudging his leg. Sitting upward, he saw a round orange fruit being washed ashore. It composed of many flame-shaped components with swirl patterns. Ace picked the fruit up, suspiciously evaluate the bizarre appearance. He had way too much with Luffy and poisonous food, God knows whether if the thing in his hand was lethal or not. But being hungry for days, the fruit sounded like a miracle.

He opened his mouth, ready to take a bite, then suddenly he heard a stomach growl. He turned around and saw Deuce holding a branch.

"Oh, that's a nice branch," Ace took the club, "Are you helping with the boat?"

Deuce inhaled deeply and stumbled backward. He clearly had trouble standing, so Ace offered the fruit.

"Here, you can have it."

At the very moment his stomach decided to step in and embarrass its owner. Ace cursed his digestive system before and noticed Deuce stepping closer. Though the mask had covered most of Deuce's expression, Ace could see the bloodshot in Deuce's eyes.

"Th-There's a bunch more of these right? Out there? Right?

"Nope, I picked it up just now," Ace shrugged, "It probably washed ashore like we did. Here, you want some?"

At that, Deuce kneeled down. His body shaking as he sniffled.

"I… I can't eat that…"

"Eat it."

"I won't!"

"Why not? You're hungry, so quit refusing."

"Bu-But you're hungry too right?!"

Deuce shouted and started crying, which confused Ace as hell, hence he unsheathed his dagger and slit the fruit in half.

"Alright, is this okay with you?"

He placed one half in Deuce's hand and took the first bite of the remaining half.

"See. I'm eating so you eat too. Taste quite good."

Ace was lying. The fruit was so terrible he doubted his vocabulary had the right word to describe it, yet it was enough to calm his stomach from protesting. Deuce kept crying and sobbing as he ate the fruit so Ace guessed he wasn't the only one being struck by the nasty flavor.

"Yeah it's good. Horrible, but good… So good… So good… I'm sorry, so sorry…"

"Okay don't force yourself," Ace pursed, "This is disgusting. I've never eaten anything this bad."

Deuced nodded, and they finished the humble meal. The day soon came to an end, the sky slowly being dyed deep red as the sun dived into the sea. Ace couldn't help letting out a weary sigh. The fruit was enough for him to keep hang on for another day.

But for now, he wanted to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

"Even though the sunset is pretty," he chuckled, "But if there's no one witness, it doesn't matter how pretty it is. It's just so boring."  
Deuce made a soft chuckle of agreement and recited a poetry about sunset. Ace had a good laugh, because the Deuce's work had no rhythm at all. It was getting darker and darker, yet the breeze coming from the sea was hot.

 _Pleasure to meet you Ace._

Ace curled his lips. Here it goes again, his hallucination. This time the voice was so clear he felt as if someone was standing right next to his. Clearly sleep-depravation had gotten on his nerves, he needed a good nap now.

"Ace! You're on fire!"

Deuce shrieked and snapped upward.

"Huh- WHAT?!"

His whole body was on fire. Ace rolled on the sand to extinguish the flame. It worked, but when he stopped, the fire ignited again.

 _Please calm down._

Fire danced on his skin, shuffling left and right like it was trying to say hi.

 _Let's get along, shall we?_

Ace looked at the blazing spark then jumped into the sea without hesitation.

 _No please don't do that, it's-_

The voice disappeared along with his strength. At the moment Ace's leg dipped in the water, his muscles gave up on working and his body slumped forward. He could have drowned if it wasn't for Deuce dragging him ashore on time.

"You're alright Ace?" Deuce checked his heartbeat, "What happened?"

"I don't know, I think it's over now."

The fire burst again.

… _Uh, I-_

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh-"

Luffy once said he immediately knew what his power could do after he ate the Gum-Gum fruit, going as far as claiming his power was the real mastermind behind his stuns. Ace'd thought it was hard to believe, until the fire spent the night describing itself. With the new-gained power, they escaped the deserted island at last. Ace asked if Deuce wanted to join him on his journey, and the blue-haired man agreed almost instantly.

Spade Delivery Service was founded under the golden twilight of East Blue. Things didn't go well at first, but slowly and steadily, they made a name for themselves, and the team got more and more crowded. Ace couldn't be happier with this result, having a new friend right after each adventure. One of them particularly liked clinging by his side and he also like using the lynx as his pillow.

The only thing dissatisfied him was his power.

Flame-Flame fruit, or as it introduced itself, Fogo, gave him the power to control fire. Luffy mentioned his rubber power was energetic, hence Ace expected his power to be bellicose and fierce. But as it turned out, the flame had a pretty chill personality. It merely said a word a day, and their conversations only surrounded what should he do to master its better.

Ace had never planned to have a devil fruit. Having a logia granted him a lot of advantages, but also took away his ability to swim, which mean he could no longer save Luffy if his brother fell into the water like he always did again. After getting out of the island and actually thought about that possibility, it terrified him to the point he wished he'd given Deuce the fruit as a whole.

That, and the demise of Grey Terminal, the thorn he couldn't pluck out of his heart. Every time he saw his practice target being burned to dust, he couldn't help thinking about the day Grey Terminal lit up the night sky. The crackling sound recalled nothing more than the truth that he was weak. Although Ace practiced controlling fire gradually, he tried to rely on his physical strength more. He had a feeling Fogo knew his thinking, but it'd never made a comment, and he felt extremely grateful for it.

Maybe because he, the Pirate King's son, was already an outcast of society since his birth, every member of his crew somehow ended up being a pariah at one point in their life. Their personalities was varied, and so did their strengths. Having quite a special crew plus being a logia, Ace soon got the government's attention. They sent another logia to confront him. The more experienced marine easily had the upper hand, leaving Ace no choice but unlash his power. An enormous energy took over his body and he heard Deuce shouted out. Looking at a wide area being seized by ferocious blaze, Ace felt chill crawling on his spine. Something struck him in his head, then his mind entirely shut down.

When he woke up, it was already three days later.

"No one got hurt, your fire doesn't burn at all," Deuce checked his injuries, "Next time we see that smoke guy, we run. Discretion is the better part of a valor."

"Too bad, he's quite good looking."

"If you don't stop checking up on those that can actually kill you right now, I'll kill you myself first."

Ace volunteered to be on watch that night. On a new moon night, all he could see was an endless darkness. The pounding waves were the only clue let him know he was moving forward. Ace bit his lips, knowing he was still too far from keeping the promise with Sabo.

"You're here?"

On his shoulder ignited a small spark.

"Thanks… For protecting anyone."

 _No problem. You're better now?_

"All good," Ace moved his finger, his muscles a bit stiff but nothing too serious, "That move, I want to learn it."

 _Tomorrow, okay? You're not in your best condition now._

"Okay."

 _Great then. Call me if you need anything._

The fire dimmed, but Ace voiced out before it truly vanished.

"Are you really the manifestation of fire?"

It'd been a puzzle he wanted to know the answer.

 _Something wrong? The spark blazed again._

"You're calm. Fire supposes to be aggressive."

 _Ah… that_ , a soft chuckle, _I'm sorry, you're not the first person to ask me that. It's kind of nostalgic._

 _I'm not calm, just careful. Otherwise I'll accidentally burn someone I care, or worse, you care about._

 _Losing a beloved is the pain I don't want anyone to suffer._

"…"

'What happened?' he mean to ask, but swallowed his words in time. The spark on his shoulder whirled merrily like it was snickering.

 _It's okay. I don't remember anyway. I just know I should not lose my temper, or I'll regret._

 _Maybe I was once a despicable devil._

 _So don't worry. My fire never hurt those you love._

After a year building reputation in East Blue, Ace decided it was time to come to Grand Line. The Pirate Graveyard was the same as he remembered, thrilling and chaotic. Danger and excitement became the daily meal. His crew made mistakes sometimes, miscalculating the weather, caught a rare sickness or running out of food, but luckily they managed to overcome it all. The most dangerous incident was when Ace accidentally fell into to a river when none of his comrades was nearby. Being safe by a girl, he agreed to break in G-2 Marine Headquarter to deliver her message. The visit later led to their secret symbiotic connection with a Marine Base, and also resulted in Deuce having his first gray hair at the age of twenty.

"Are you watching right now?"

Ace smiled toward the clear blue sky as he poured a cup of wine to the sea. Every year, three cups of sake, he never forget. For some reasons, he'd been feeling like Sabo was staring from afar, celebrating his journey with a brilliant smile.

Turned out said brother was actually watching him from behind with an offer from the Revolution Army, completely clueless about their precious childhood.

Ace almost burned down a Revolution Army's facility that day.

….

Ace enthusiastically walked in an eye-catching restaurant. After one week taking care of his very arrogant new client, he finally had a little time for himself, so of course he'd spent this precious break for the activity he loved most, eating. He was so eager he headed straight toward the chef and order as much as he could, not even bother to look around.

 _There's a blond guy behind you, sit with him._

For a second Ace thought he was dreaming, because his power never used demanding tone toward him. He quickly turned around and found Marco the Phoenix sitting alone in the corner. The man demurely enjoyed his meal, his demeanor lazy and idle, yet the other customers were eyeing him like a herd of sheep watching a wolf. It must be a joke wandering in Grand Line without knowing about the Emperors and their top executives. He only reached for his cup and already caused another man fell off his chair.

"Something wrong with him?"

Fogo made a soft hum instead of giving a proper answer. Ace didn't mind sitting with the guy though. His parents spoke highly about Whitebeard, yet never said a thing about the man's first mate, that alone provoked his curiosity.

Ace received his meal and walked toward the man's table.

"I'm sorry, may I sit here?"

The blond man casted his eyes upward. Ace had expected rejection, because on wanted poster Marco the Phoenix seemed to be a serious person. Yet at the very moment their eyes met, Ace found himself at lost. A serene feeling bloomed in his heart, reminding him of the peaceful day marveling at the grandeur of mountain scenery. Maybe the light filtered through the grimy window had done the perfect job making the man's facial features softer. His eyes were the exact copy of the color of the sky, deep and blue and emerged a trustworthy feeling.

A spark flickered in the man's eyes, something Ace failed to intercept, but he got the answer correct before the man even said.

"No problem, please have a seat."

"Thanks. I'm Portgas D. Ace."

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There was one thing that kept nudging Marco's mind since the moment he met Ace, the young man's tattoo. 'ASCE', with the S being crossed out. Some might say it was the tattooist's mistake, but there was no tattooist dared to make such tremendous mistake on their clients' body. Hell, even a small scratch could cause them their head, therefore the S on Ace's bicep must be intentional.

A memorial, Marco assumed, because it had to be so important Ace wanted it to be a part of him till eternity.

Marco found the second mark after Ace took off his shirt. There were vague parallel scratches on the young man's shoulder. Since they were standing pretty close, the marks became outstanding on Ace's freckled skin. Marco hovered his hand on the young man's shoulder, but before his flame could touch the mark, Ace's shoulder was ablaze.

"Ah," Ace turned his body back to physical form, shushing the flame of his shoulder. Then he looked at Marco, his eyes filled with confusion, "Something wrong?"

"Phoenix is wondering about the mark on your shoulder," Marco sold his power out.

"Oh this? This is a gift from my very first friend, an aggressive fur ball," Ace snickered. His fingers caressed the scar as if it was his treasure while his eyes carefully scanned around. "I can't see or sense anything, so it must be over-!"

Ace's stomach growled and his face flushed of embarrassment.

"Me neither," Marco tried to hide his chuckle by pulling a package out of his bag, "Here, onigiri. Just made them this morning."

"Thanks," Ace happily took the rice ball, "You always bring them around?"

"A doctor always has to be ready."

They silently enjoyed the frugal dinner while trying to share a tiny space and keep themselves dry. The stream below seethed with rage and beastly cries echoing off the dense stone walls. Their only light was one of Ace's fireball floating in the air, but its light was easily engulfed by the chilling blackness.

"Guess we're stuck here for the night."

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My life has been roller-coasting in the last two months hahaha. I'm having a test soon and probably only at the end of my life can I get over academic anxiety.

Anyway, I know this is a MarcoAce fic but please bear with me when I'm into other characters. I want to cover more than the romance (and also include Sabo in future plot).

The past with Sabo and Deuce was hard. I always wonder why Sabo knew about Ace's heritage because Ace clearly didn't like talking about it. So this is the best I can come up with, a secret for a secret. I like to think mugging and collecting were Sabo's things before Ace came along. Skipping Luffy's part a bit because we all know what happened in Grey Terminal.

For Deuce, I want to stick with canon as much as I can. Again, thank MasterQwertster for her wonderful translation of One Piece Novel A. Please support her!

Ace gained his power when he was seventeen right? Due to what happened in Grey Terminal, I think he must have hated it at first. Just my theory. Chopper and Robin did have a hard time with their powers.

Quick summary for the next chapter: Marco and Ace in a cave : (and maybe an angry Deuce)

What can you find in a cave?


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